A LOYALTY card scheme is being launched in a bid to boost shopping in Abingdon – but just 24 traders have signed up so far.

The Choose Abingdon Partnership hopes shoppers will be attracted by discounts for frequent customers.

The partnership sent out 200 leaflets to traders urging them to sign up for a £50 card reader needed to take part.

Partnership chairman James White said: “It’s a good start and I dare say more will join when it gets momentum.”

Shoppers will be able to buy a card for £3 from October 16, when it will be launched at an event in the Market Square. Mel Inness, of Frend & Co jewellers in West St Helen’s Street, a member of the partnership, has signed up. She said: “It was a no-brainer. We have got to try something. We can’t sit around complaining and when we’re offered an opportunity not take it.”

John North, of Masons fabrics in Bath Street, said the scheme would not work in a town like Abingdon and the money could have been better spent.