The gloves were off today after business leaders launched a campaign to smash the Oxford Transport Strategy.

Organisers said calls of support had flooded in since the Rescue Oxford (Rox) initiative was unveiled yesterday.

Rox leaders published the results of a survey claiming the new traffic measures were costing traders more than a £1m a month in lost revenue.

Spokesman Roger Rosewell said after the launch: "It is just like lighting a touchpaper." Meanwhile, cyclists and motorists defying OTS restrictions in the city centre were collared in a crackdown by police yesterday.

Insp Keith Henderson said 107 on-the-spot fines had been issued. Cyclists riding with no lights after dark were also caught. *John Tanner, Oxford City Council leader, staunchly defended the strategy saying the picture being painted of Oxford was out of date.

He said: "Oxford is a thriving city. It is not at all like the picture painted by the group of old fuddy duddies at the press conference. They are trying to rescue an Oxford that existed 50 years ago. If people want to keep Oxford under a dusty sheet they are kidding themselves."

Cllr Tanner went on to say the survey was "dubious" and "unscientific". But he said, even taken at face value, the figures showed only 20 per cent of respondents wanted to see the scheme scrapped - the majority wanted to see it changed or improved. Cllr Tanner said: "I agree with that - there are certain areas we have not got right yet. I would like to see Queen Street pedestrianised, the traffic lights at St Aldate's sorted out and wider pavements for pedestrians."

But he said the traffic lights at the new station square were now working well after adjustments were made in the autumn. Cllr Tanner added: "Of course we will take on board the views of the traders and businesses because they are important. If they can give us facts about the number of customers they have or sales they are making and make some suggestions as to what we can do to help, I will take that on board. "What we are absolutely committed to is continuing to reduce pollution, increase pedestrianisation and get more and more people in and out of the city faster by bus.

"Everyone who steps into the centre of Oxford knows it is bustling and thriving and people are spending money. The whole point of the OTS was there was growing gridlock and we had to do something."

David Young, Oxfordshire County Council's director of environmental services, said: "The OTS was thought up against a background of Oxford choking itself to death. I do have concerns about what the traders have said and we would want to talk to them." *Campaigners against the Oxford Transport Strategy insisted: "We are not a bunch of mad car fanatics."

As the campaign gathered momentum, Roger Rosewell, spokesman for Rescue Oxford (Rox), said the response from across the city proved the validity of the business community's arguments.

He said: "We are not saying we don't believe in a transport strategy but neither do we want this experiment to continue.

"There have been attempts to portray the problems as only being relevant to the Covered Market. The council is saying the traders there are a bunch of failures, but what this survey shows is that across the city there are serious concerns." Julian Blackwell, president of Blackwell's, the Oxford booksellers, added: "No-one opposes pedestrianisation or greater use of public transport but the OTS is an emperor without any clothes.

"We haven't made a knee-jerk reaction. Business is down, visitors complain that we are unfriendly, other towns are chasing our customers.

"No other city spends public money hiring public relations consultants to woo the very shoppers that they themselves are driving away."

Mr Blackwell called for Oxford to be made a friendlier place, wardens and parking charges to be abolished after 6pm on Sundays and on bank holidays up to Christmas, a free park and ride for Christmas and an overall positive boost to the city. He also called for the forthcoming review of the OTS to be public and independent.

John Power, Oxford west county councillor and former Oxford mayor, said the county council was bidding for an extra £2m to extend the strategy and this must not be allowed to happen.

He said the county council's own surveys showed that most of their staff, which consists of 16,000 people, use staff-based parking. *A total of 983 firms and colleges were surveyed between November 10 and 25 with a 46 per cent response rate.

The main results were:

*80 per cent of shoppers were dissatisfied with the OTS

*61 per cent wanted it significantly amended

*Fewer than one in five of respondents wanted to retain the present scheme

*87.5 per cent of retailers said that the OTS was damaging the economic and commercial vitality of the city This view was endorsed by 73.3 per cent of restaurateurs and 76.8 per cent of all respondents.

*84 per cent of retailers said the OTS was worsening the city's appeal

This was endorsed by 80 per cent of restaurateurs and 80.8 per cent of respondents overall

*86.8 per cent of retailers claimed the number of people choosing to shop in Oxford had fallen since the introduction of the OTS

*78.8 per cent said fewer people were coming into the city *71.5 per cent of retailers reported a fall in the number of shoppers using their stores since the introduction of the OTS

*Out of 144 retailers, 56 per cent reported significant reductions in turnover - some said they were on the verge of closure

*A total of 53 per cent of restaurants said they had a lower turnover since June *69 per cent complained of inadequate consultation before its introduction

*63.3 per cent complained of staff lateness and unease and

*50 per cent said they thought the problems cause by the OTS would actually worsen.

Story date: Thursday 09 December

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.