A VITAL service for disabled people closes today after funding dried up.

Campaigners say the axing of Shirley Shopmobility puts an end to independent living for scores of disabled people in Southampton.

But bosses simply could not find anyone to pay the £15,000 a year it costs to run the service.

Geoff Wilkinson, who is on the Shopmobility steering group, said: "This is a very sad day, it really is.

"It's going to be a bad loss for Shirley because disabled people simply won't go there any more.

"Many people relied on that service to enable them to live independent lives.

"That independence is now gone forever because nobody else is going to open up a Shopmobility service now this one has closed."

The district Shopmobility scheme, the first of its kind in Southampton outside the city centre, was set up less than a year ago with funding from the Outer Shirley Regeneration Board, Lloyds TSB and primary care trust grants.

It was forced to move three times because of building work before finding its current home in Marlborough Road.

Within a year it became a lifeline for scores of people.

In the last three months of 2004, more than 80 people hired one of the electric scooters to access shops, the library and the district housing office.

Shopmobility co-ordinator Sarah Baker said: "Unfortunately, there isn't the money to take it on further. It is possible to get grants to start things up, but very difficult to attract money for ongoing costs of running the service. We have exhausted all the avenues of trying to find funding."