A pensioner who fears a transport service for the elderly and disabled could be privatised has started a petition and plans to lobby councillors.

Bill Hinkins, 73, of Bainton Road, Hethe, near Bicester, is worried that if plans for a new supermarket in Bicester town centre go ahead, the ShopMobility service in Crown Walk will come under private control. He has collected more than 300 signatures and aims to get 1,000 before he takes the petition to Cherwell District Council.

ShopMobility, which has 464 members and provides battery-operated scooters for shoppers, is funded by the district council and Bicester Town Council.

But if the supermarket plans are approved, developers may take over responsibility for the service and employ a private firm to run it. Minibus service Dial-A-Ride - which has 400 registered users - operates from the same premises in Crown Walk. Customers can book a bus and a scooter with one phone call.

Mr Hinkins fears that if the ShopMobility service is privatised, Banburyshire Community Transport Association, the charity that provides the Dial-A-Ride service, may have to work from Banbury, limiting the Bicester service.

He said: "If the office does close, we would have nowhere to wait for the bus and we would have to sit outside in all weathers."

He said managers at the Cherwood House nursing home in Buckingham Road, Bicester, had written to the district council. Others have written to MP Tony Baldry.

Stuart Hemming, ShopMobility manager, said: "The original idea of ShopMobility was a non-profit making scheme, to provide low-cost mobility equipment for use around town. We also give unbiased advice to people looking to buy a mobility scooter."

Graham Helm, environmental health manager for Cherwell District Council, said: "We have no plans at all for a reduction of facilities in Bicester.