SEVEN commuters escorted a cygnet to safety this morning after it was spotted looking lost in Oxford city centre.

Passerby Kate Hitchman caught sight of the young swan walking near the Said Business School at about 8am with bleeding feet and no mother nearby.

In their efforts to contact the RSPCA and then guide the flustered fowl away from the busy road, the 28-year-old and her husband were joined by two cyclists, a mother and daughter, and a student who kept the bird's attention focused on homemade biscuits from her lunchbox.

Mrs Hitchman, a conference manager at All Souls College, said: "I didn't know where it came from but it wasn't in a good place and looked a bit lost.

"The RSPCA said just to get him to the water so me and my husband started to walk alongside him, and we just gathered around and walked him up and over the bridge, and down into the river.

"We had to coax him in with some biscuits. He was much happier."

She said she guessed the bird was about six months old and that it had already tried to wander into the road.

Members of the group walked out and stopped the traffic to get it across Frideswide Square.

Mrs Hitchman added: "It was lovely. Everybody just wanted to make sure he got to the right place. We must have looked so funny."