People living on Oxford’s Rose Hill estate want a temporary diversion taking buses along a residential street made permanent.

Road works in Nowell Road forced the No. 20 service between Rose Hill and Templars Square to use Rivermead Road as an improvised diversion.

And residents say they prefer the route, which had been used by the previous bus operator, because they do not have to climb a hill to Nowell Road.

Rivermead Road was taken off the route last year when Stagecoach assumed control of the service, because the company said the road was too narrow.

Rivermead Road resident Tony Harbert, 65, said: “I struggle to get up the hill to pick up the bus. The bus can negotiate the road down here and there is no problem.”

Another Rivermead Road resident Vim Rodrigo, 79, said: “The hill is awkward for people who are disabled and elderly so we would like the service to cover Rivermead Road.”

The previous service, run by Heyfordian, went down Rivermead Road on its way to Templars Square. Heyfordian ran the route twice a week, while Stagecoach runs it several times a day.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said the company had not been notified of the roadworks so had no planned diversion in place.

He added: “Our drivers have been doing their best to serve as much of the area as possible on an ad-hoc basis.

“Due to the lack of information, one of our two regular drivers on the route has been using Rivermead Road.

“It does however remain the case that the bottom of Rivermead Road is too narrow to run an hourly service along it on a regular, uninterrupted basis.

“We must keep each journey to schedule to avoid delaying the next journey.”

But Mr Rodrigo said: “They are using it successfully now so I don’t know why they are using that excuse.

“I am old and there are many others of my age or even older. These are people who need the service.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The work in Nowell Road is being carried out by a contractor for Thames Water. However the company did not apply to the county council for a road closure order.

“Since no application was received we were unable to inform buses about the diversion. The contractor is now applying retrospectively for an emergency closure.”

All route 20 buses are now following an approved diversion along Nowell Road (North), Lenthall Road, Desborough Crescent and Pattison Place, and no longer using Rivermead Road.

Simon Evans, a spokesman for Thames Water, said: “We're really sorry for the hassle we’re causing Oxford motorists and residents as a result of our must-do emergency repair on a collapsed sewer under Nowell Road.

“And we are also sorry on behalf of our contractors, who failed to fill in the paperwork fully when applying to the council.

“This is basic stuff and there’s no excuse for getting it wrong. We’ll do better in future.”