A Banbury community transport service has closed, leaving about 100 OAPs and disabled users stuck for buses.

Banburyshire Community Transport Association (BCTA) shut on Friday after two decades serving Cherwell residents.

Bosses said that the charity could not afford to continue after failing to win a key council contract to provide dial-a-ride services.

It has collapsed with the loss of more than 15 jobs.

Until April, BCTA got £187,500 from Cherwell District Council (CDC) and £26,364-a-year from Oxfordshire County Council to run dial-a-ride services.

The district-wide service ran five to seven buses five days a week for people to phone for trips such as shopping and appointments.

But the county council took over the running of the service in April, awarding its own bus team the contract.

Cherwell then cut its contribution to dial-a-ride to £30,000 so the district now gets one bus for two days and two buses for three.

Bosses at BCTA continued to provide private trips but have now said these do not bring in enough cash to keep it afloat.

Among those to be hit is a weekly bingo club service to Yule Court Common Room for £4 a person.

Kevin Powell, BCTA co-ordinator, said: “I am gutted that, after 19 years with the charity, the board feels they have to close it when there is enough finance to keep it going for six to eight months.”

He said: “The disabled and elderly are going to suffer because of their actions.”

County council deputy leader Rodney Rose was sorry to hear of the closure.

But he said: “In the world we are living in, we can’t go giving free transport to everybody who feels they have a right to it.”