THE firm responsible for advertising on bus shelters has said it has reported a spoof advert to Thames Valley Police.

A poster reading “Plan for a Healthy Retirement” and featuring a picture of a doctor handing an elderly woman a gun, above, appeared at a bus shelter in Abingdon Road, Oxford, yesterday morning.

Media company Clear Channel, which manages the advertising on most bus shelters in Oxford, confirmed it had reported the matter to police.

Clear Channel spokesman Guy Melzack said they’d had a number of reports of a similar thing happening elsewhere in the country. He said: Our operations teams are working to replace the affected sites and we will liaise with those client and agency partners whose campaigns have been affected to ensure that their campaigns are fulfilled.”

Mr Melzack said the bus shelter could have been defaced as part of the movement called “brandalism” which subverts advertising billboards to make political and social points.

This month the movement has organised a “takeover” of more than 360 corporate advertising spaces, replacing them with artwork.

The Oxford Mail contacted the Police for comment but it did not respond.