Not even the proverbial one man and his dog turned up for the launch of a new Neighbourhood Watch scheme in Witney.

The woman who called the meeting, Cogges estate resident Fiona Miller, sat waiting for half an hour to see if anyone would come through the door at Blake Primary School.

With her were Danielle Hilton, from West Oxfordshire’s Safer Communities Partnership, two officers from Oxfordshire County Council’s trading standards team and crime reduction officer Bill Butcher.

Posters had been put up on the estate and the meeting, on Thursday evening, was publicised in the Oxford Mail as well as on the district council's website.

But, after 30 minutes, they decided to call it a day.

“It was disappointing,” said Ms Miller. “I had spoken about it to some of my neighbours, who said they would come along.

“But to have absolutely no-one there was not what we expected. It's good that the school didn’t charge us for hiring the hall.”

Throughout west Oxfordshire there are 825 residents signed up to existing Neighbourhood Watch and Countrywatch schemes.

Ms Miller believed one was needed on the estate after recent incidents of graffiti and an attack on a car, which was rolled over on to its side.

Mrs Hilton said: “It’s the first time this has happened. Normally when we decide to help set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme we get about 20 people coming along. We shall try again some time in the future.”