A BUS firm facing delays to its services has criticised councillors for allowing two sets of roadworks to be carried out at the same time.

The Oxford Bus Company, which is predicting chaos in the city as workmen start major projects in Park End Street and Banbury Road, is demanding a better system of control.

Thames Water is carrying out work in Park End Street and underneath the railway bridge in Botley Road as part of its £7m West Oxford Sewer Project, bringing with it five weeks of contra-flows and the closure of Becket Street.

At the same time, a 12-week project to lay new gas pipes in Banbury Road is under way.

Work is also being carried out in Cowley Road and Woodstock Road.

Philip Kirk, commercial director of the Oxford Bus Company, said: "It is very frustrating that roadworks are undertaken on all the main roads in Oxford City at the same time.

"There really needs to be a system to co-ordinate roadworks so that they all don't happen at once. This situation is a nightmare for our passengers as well as for our drivers and control staff.

Passengers using its Cityline 4A/B/C service between Botley and Road Hill will have to change to a different bus in Queen Street and Cornmarket between 6am and 11am.

People using its Cityline 2 service between Kidlington and Oxford city centre, which travels along Banbury Road are also being warned to expect delays. Oxford City Council's technical administration officer, Katherine Powley, said: "The Banbury Road scheme is 12 weeks and that had been planned to go ahead.

"Thames Water desperately needed to get on with the sewer works as this was the last section that needed to be done."

She added that when work was being carried out over a 12-week period, it was likely that it would coincide with other schemes somewhere in Oxford.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "We haven't had any calls from drivers complaining about problems on the roads. It appears that drivers were given good advance warning.

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