Villagers fear they will be stranded if plans to cut bus services go ahead.

Passengers in Chilton and Harwell, near Didcot, have attacked timetable changes published by Oxfordshire County Council - due to take effect next month.

The Oxford extension of the 32 and 33 services, run by Stagecoach, will be withdrawn, forcing passengers going to Oxford from Harwell to change at Abingdon.

Nine buses between Chilton and Didcot will also be axed, to be replaced by one daily shopper service.

The number 32 service will now be operated by Thames Travel, but there will be no through-service between Harwell and Oxford.

Connections to Newbury, run by Newbury Buses, will also be severed with the ending of the number six and nine services.

More than 100 villagers in Chilton have signed a petition in protest.

Frank Dumbleton, a member of Chilton Parish Council, said: "There is much anger in the village at losing so many services.

"It was diffcult to find out why they were cut because the discussion of bus subsidies by the county council's transport decisions committee was held in secret."

Commuter Keith Woods, 60, from Chilton, said: "There is a lot of ill feeling in the village. We pay the same rates as people in other towns and villages and we are getting a raw deal."

Chilton resident, Dorothy Woodhouse, 66, who has an eye condition which prevents her from driving, uses the bus up to four times a week. She said: "The new service will not even go past the doctor's surgery, which will make it very difficult for some people.

"There will be no point going out for the day because the service only allows an hour in Didcot.

"It will be impossible to get to Oxford for hospital appointments without using taxis from Didcot to Chilton."

Stewart Lilly, vice-chairman of Harwell parish council, called for a meeting with county transport chiefs to push for services to be reinstated.

He said villagers would be "cut off at the knees" from health services, schools, shops and post offices.

He said: "The basis of all of the decisions has been to save £200,000."

Ian Hudspeth, the county's cabinet member for transport, said the decision to cut the Harwell through-service had been partly due to European Union drivers' hours regulations.

He added: "I do not believe it was practical, desirable or legal for the county council to spend a large amount of money subsidising the link."

Mr Hudspeth said the high cost and low usage did not justify a new contract to replace the Newbury service.

Stagecoach spokesman Chris Child said: "We were pleased to be able to provide a bus service for a number of years which benefited the community in the Didcot area, and will continue to run night buses from Oxford to Didcot and the 34 service (Harwell to Oxford).

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who travelled with us from Didcot and the surrounding areas for their support over the years."

*The county council's new bus punctuality monitoring assistant was due to start work today.

The Department for Transport now requires all transport authorities to employ a punctuality officer to monitor taxpayer-subsidised services as reliance on public transport becomes greater.

Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach - the main operators in the city - blame congestion as the main reason for late services.

The monitoring officer will be charged with assessing services and compiling a dossier of data to present to County Hall and the DoT.