A Fish and Chip shop owner took a poetic approach to warning his customers about a diligent traffic warden in October 1978.

Alan Coe penned the 'Ode to the Lonely Warden' and placed it outside his shop in Botley Road.

Lunchtime trade had taken a bit of a battering with Mr Coe explaining motorists had been scared away from parking on Ferry Hinksey Road during one of the busiest times of day.

The poem cheekily offered the warden a seat after she had spent every weekday lunchtime over a number of weeks standing opposite the shop doorway.

The warden had apparently declined the offer of the seat.