After two years of having to contend with broken windows, leaking roofs and ripped out seats, bus users in Oxford have finally won their battle for new shelters.

Since 2007, residents using the seven stops along Marston Road have been asking Oxford City Council to replace the dilapidated shelters.

Now, after two years, the council has agreed something needs to be done, and work to replace all the shelters has begun.

Community campaigner Mick Haines, 68, of Croft Road, wrote the first letter of complaint to the council.

He said: “We are really happy about the news, the state of them is absolutely disgusting.

“The thing is, a lot of older people use the shelters and they have nowhere to sit at the moment because the seats have been ripped out.

“We are really pleased that someone has finally listened to us.”

The city council confirmed one stop along the road had already been replaced, two more are expected to be installed on April 1 and 2 and another four would be in place by next year.

George Evans, 79, from Marston Road, said the bus stop he used, opposite Jack Straw’s Lane, had no seats left at all.

He said: “I have to go up to the hospital quite a bit for appointments. At the moment I try not to use the bus because the stops are in such a state.

“My wife and I prefer to ask my daughter to take us.

“Hopefully once the work is done we’ll use the buses more.”

The stops along the Marston Road are among 180 new-look shelters that will be installed across Oxford over a five year period.

The new shelters, painted in traditional Oxford Blue, will be capable of carrying real time bus timetable information and will feature low-energy bulbs.

City councillor John Tanner, board member for a cleaner, greener Oxford, said installation work should only take a day or two.

He added: "I am thrilled that two more replacement bus shelters will be installed on Marston Road in April and even more next year.

"The bus shelters are being installed in Oxford over a five year period to improve the quality of bus shelter provision across the city.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk