Sir – It is with great regret that ‘Pat the lollipop man’, appointed in the second week of this academic year to guide children safely across the Oxford Road, Old Marston, as they make their way to and from St Nicholas’ Primary School and the Cherwell School, has resigned “after he was nearly run over”.

The crossing patrol supervisor explained to a parent that the Oxford Road crossing point was such a dangerous position for Pat and she said “we need some form of crossing there”: the danger of cars turning in and out of Oxford Road into Cherwell Drive have, for years, been apparent to all of us who have and have had children in school at St Nicholas and Cherwell.

Could I, as a parent with three children daily affected by the risk the crossing point represents, and on behalf of all parents and children who face the same dangers, use The Oxford Times to appeal directly to Messrs Geoff Barrell and Anthony Kirkwood, of Oxfordshire County Council, for urgent action to be taken over the construction of a permanent crossing?

If the answer to such an appeal is that no one has yet been injured or killed on those last few perilous yards of the Oxford Road and so there are not sufficient grounds for a permanent crossing, could I suggest the gentlemen of the county council talk to the now retired Pat, whose friendliness, care, and kindliness were much appreciated by parents and children alike.

Sally Mercer, Headington