Bus fares are going up in Oxfordshire - and some loss-making services could be axed.

Oxford Bus Company, which has offered staff a 9.3 per cent increase, is raising its fares from November 4.

Stagecoach, which has offered an eight per cent rise, is also putting up fares and considering cutting some rural routes.

The rival companies have been forced to agree increases around four times the rate of inflation to stop the drift of drivers to higher-paid jobs at BMW by Cowley.

But some Witney-based Stagecoach drivers are angry that they have been offered only a one per cent pay rise.

Oxford Bus Company is adding £1 to return fares to London and 10p to all services in Oxford, Abingdon and Kidlington. Park-and-ride fares will also rise by 10p.

Stagecoach, which has yet to announce details of its fare increases, revealed its plans in a letter - leaked to the Oxford Mail - to drivers at its Witney depot.

Operations director James Freeman wrote: "We are going to have to raise our fares and examine all our operations as quite a bit of our network has been rendered, at a stroke, uneconomic by our huge increases in costs.

"This will mean reductions in services which are less well-used, especially on the more rural operation, even their elimination, and fewer jobs overall."

One Witney-based driver said: "The public ought to know. We've been told there will be a five per cent fares increase and they are planning to bring it in, possibly as early as November 1.

"The drivers out here are not happy. They are tempted to go to Oxford, where there are vacancies. That will leave gaps on the rural services."

The pay rises will make drivers among the highest paid in the country. Both firms are 40 drivers short.

Oxford Bus Company managing director Douglas Adie said he hoped customers would understand the need to raise fares.

He said: "We have got to retain and recruit staff. In a highly competitive labour market, as we have in Oxford, we simply have to put the fares up.

"We believe people would rather pay more and have a reliable service, than pay less and have an unreliable service.

"I think in the past, people have been fairly understanding in Oxford."

Stagecoach operations director George Fair said fare increases were necessary, but no definite dates had been decided.

He said: "We have moved on pay and we are now reviewing our fares. We will advise our customers as soon as we have made a decision."

He defended the decision to pay drivers on Witney and other rural routes less, saying: "The reason we moved that way is because the pressure of living in Oxford is higher than in outlaying areas."

**Oxford Bus Company drivers' basic salary will now be £17,500 a year, with opportunities for overtime. London drivers will now earn basic pay of almost £21,000. Stagecoach said drivers' basic salaries differ, but Oxford-London Tube drivers earn more than £20,000 before overtime.