A 'safe' cycling route through Wallingford is so dangerous it must be ripped up immediately, the town council says.

Member Pat Granados said the cycle route had never worked satisfactorily.

She said: "It is a death trap. It is causing mayhem and danger and the only option is to take it out as fast as possible."

The cycle route runs from Crowmarsh through Wallingford and out via Wantage Road. It was a joint effort between Sustrans, the Bristol-based sustainable transport organisation, and Oxfordshire County Council and had been heavily criticised in the past by councillors.

They say the lane is too narrow; it has been put through drains, potholes and broken parts of the road; and in Wantage Road it goes under parked cars.

The planned green hard surface for the lane was not laid in some places, in others it obscured road markings.

Miss Granados said the space available for cyclists was narrower than a bike's handlebars.

She said: "It was something everybody wanted but it should now be taken away in the best interests of cyclists. It has been a complete waste of money."

Sustrans area manager Simon Pratt has written to the council acknowledging the route's faults but will talk to it at another time about a replacement.

Mike Wasley, an assistant engineer in the county council's major projects team, acknoweldged there had been complaints about the route. He said the problem in Wantage Road was parked cars, but added cyclists could use it for most of the day when the cars were away.

The town council is demanding the county council and Sustrans get rid of the route through the town as quickly as possible.