A COUNCIL-SUBSIDISED evening bus service for Littlemore and Sandford is being scrapped.

Oxfordshire County Council has been subsidising Stagecoach’s 12C night-time service which runs in a loop from the city centre through to Littlemore, Sandford-on-Thames and through Greater Leys and Templars Square in Cowley.

However that contract ends on May 30 and the service will stop running shortly afterwards.

The decision has been criticised by Littlemore Parish Council vice-chairman David Henwood and bus campaigner Hilda Beesley.

It stops outside The George pub in Sandford Road, Littlemore, every hour from 7.23-11.23pm on weekdays.

It is an extension of the 12 service, which runs between Greater Leys and Speedwell Street during the day but does not stop in Littlemore or Sandford.

Mr Henwood said: “The 12C service is a piece of infrastructure, which we desperately need in Littlemore.

“A lot of people depend upon it and it is one more attribute that we will lose.

“I keep getting complaints about it going.

“I feel that because we are at the edge of Oxford we are neglected.

“You would expect with the amount of new homes, which have been built in Littlemore recently we would get some new bus services but it seems to be going the other way.

“We need to look at Littlemore in a more positive way.

“I would like to see Stagecoach and the county council make a U-turn on the 12C bus being withdrawn. I think the penny will drop in the near future and we need to put pressure on.”

Bus campaigner Hilda Beesley, 87, said the service being withdrawn would affect poorer people disproportionately.

The Bodley Road resident said: “I think it is awful. Blackbird Leys and other areas have so many buses.

“Nobody can afford taxis at night any more.

“It is unfair on people in Littlemore.

“I do not go out at night because of my age but it will stop some younger people going out.

“I feel very sorry for those people who will not be able to go out at night any more because they will not be able to afford a taxi.”

Stagecoach spokeswoman Karen Coventry said: “The 12C service has been supported by Oxfordshire County Council since it was introduced.

“The county council support is now being withdrawn from May 30.”

She said the 12C would continue to run in the short term, and the company would then look to serve Greater Leys with an evening timetable on its 12 service.

But this would mean Littlemore and Sandford would not be served.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said the decision to withdraw the service was taken by Stagecoach.

He said: “As a result of the expiry of the current county council contract for service 12C, Stagecoach has decided to operate an evening service to complement its daytime service 12.

“This will be on a commercial basis with no county council funding.

“Unfortunately this means that Sandford and Littlemore will lose their evening service as service 12 does not operate this routeing.”

The 12C runs from St Aldate’s to Speedwell Street via Littlemore, Greater Leys and Templars Square in Cowley.