Villagers fear people could be killed after a bus company moved its stop more than three-quarters of a mile away.

People in Shipton-on-Cherwell, near Kidlington, say that the decision by Stagecoach will mean women, children and elderly people having to walk home along a pitch-dark road in the evenings.

Parish councillors have written to Stagecoach in protest - and are urging villagers to back them in a bid to get the old stop in the centre of the village reinstated.

They say a similar move was tried 20 years ago - but scrapped after six months because it was found to be too dangerous.

Alan Bentall, clerk to Shipton-on-Cherwell and Thrupp Parish Council, branded Stagecoach's decision "absolutely stupid".

He added: "There are a lot of old people, mothers with young children and children in the village who may have to go into Kidlington and back in the evening.

"But at that time the road is pitch black because there is no street lighting - it is going to be murder.

"If it was too dangerous 20 years ago, what is it going to be like today with the amount of traffic on our roads?"

He said the village had received no notification from Stagecoach that it was moving the stop, only an unofficial call from Oxfordshire County Council.

Stagecoach was unavailable for comment.

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