A BUS driver was hailed a community hero yesterday after stopping mid-route to support an elderly woman as she shuffled across the street.

Builder Keith O'Connor was so heart-warmed by the event in Jericho's Cranham Street yesterday morning that he rang the Oxford Mail to make sure the driver got recognition.

The Bicester dad-of-two said he was embraced by a "fuzzy glow" after witnessing Mark Adams, who drives Thames Travel's 17 service, pull over to offer an arm to a lady who was wheeling her zimmer frame near the canal yesterday morning.

The 39-year-old said: "She was a tiny little lady hunched over, a sweetheart. She had one wheel off the pavement and another, then another."

Despite beeping drivers behind him, he said Mr Adams got out and took the woman's arm to support her on her five-minute journey to the other side, where the bus was waiting for her.

Mr O'Connor, who captured the scene on his phone, added: "He was saying no, no, it's fine, I think she was worried about people on the bus. They were having a lovely little chat."

He added: "Sometimes you see people running for the bus and it driving off and think about them sniggering."

Modest Mr Adams said: "It was only a bit of courtesy. I pulled over and helped her across the road - it doesn't cost anything.

"It's just about helping people out on their journeys."

The 54-year-old also picked the woman up again to make sure she got home.

He said his passengers were "lovely people" who had even brought him apples and pears during his 30 years of service in the county.

The woman had wanted to go to Summertown but the newly amended service - which started on Monday - only goes to Oxford.

He added: "We took her to Oxford and made sure another lady on the bus took her to a supermarket the other end.

"I picked her up later and made sure she got home."

The number 17 service no longer travels to Summertown or Cutteslowe and just runs between Oxford and Jericho, as part of Oxfordshire County Council's £3.7m cut to bus subsidies.