Pensioners from Oxford were joining a protest at Parliament today as part of a national campaign against OAPs being "left in poverty".

About 40 members of the Oxford branch of the Transport and General Workers Union Retired Members Association were heading to London to lobby MPs for an increase in the basic state pension.

They were set to be joined by thousands of other pensioners from around the country.

Bill Jupp, of Arlington Drive, Old Marston, is a vice-president of the association and a veteran pensioners' rights campaigner. He has attended the annual protest for the past 12 years.

He said: "We're being left in poverty. We have got people out there that are worried about whether or not to put a gas ring on to have a bowl of soup or to put one bar on the fire to have a bit of heat.

"It's going to be a question of eat or heat. It's absolutely criminal and shouldn't happen."

Mr Jupp, 77, added: "I have been campaigning for many a year and I just feel pensioners have been left behind in the culmination of wealth in this country. We have near enough the poorest pensions in Europe."