A pedestrian subway in Oxford floods so badly after rain that someone could die there, councillors have warned.

The passageway linking Thornhill park-and-ride with Sandhills is often submerged by run-off water from higher ground at Shotover, according to Risinghurst and Sandhills parish councillor Paul Phipps.

He told Oxford City Council's north east area committee on Tuesday (November 19) that the flooding affected neighbouring footpaths and the surface of the A40 as well.

Mr Phipps said: "This is a problem we have been struggling with for four years on an off. It is beyond the parish council to deal with it.

"It has become so serious that I genuinely fear someone could get killed there.

"When the water clears, we are left with black slippery slime. It is very dangerous, particularly for the elderly and disabled."

Children relied on the subway to get to school, he said.

Barton and Sandhills councillor Alex Hollingsworth said the water reached within two feet of the subway's ceiling last weekend.

"I think you might have drowned if you tried to go through," he said.

Mr Hollingsworth, who is also city council leader, said improvements were the responsibility of the county council as the subway was beneath the A40 trunk road.

He said an urgent message should be sent to the county council that this had become an issue of "deep danger".

Committee chairman Maureen Christian added: "There's a danger to schoolchildren. We will make this a very strong letter to the county council."