Oxford lollipop man quits over 'too risky' road danger (From Oxford Mail)

Oxford lollipop man quits over 'too risky' road danger

6:20am Friday 30th October 2009 in

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A LOLLIPOP man has quit his job after just six weeks – because the Oxford junction he was patrolling to protect primary school pupils was too dangerous.

Grandfather Pat Abbott, 65, handed in his notice to Oxfordshire County Council after he was almost run over – the last straw after a series of near-misses.

He said he feared a child would have to be seriously injured or even killed before work was done to make the junction of Oxford Road and Cherwell Drive, in Marston, safer.

Mr Abbott was the first lollipop man to patrol the road, and his appointment came after two years of petitioning by parents.

He started work in the second week of the school term.

Hundreds of children use the crossing daily on their way to St Nicholas’s Primary School, in Old Marston, and Cherwell School, in Marston Ferry Road.

Mr Abbott, of Rock Edge, Headington, said he resigned because he could “no longer take the risk”.

He said: “I was very almost hit by a car, because the driver hadn’t seen me. I have also been clipped by vehicles and been involved with other near-misses.

“I decided there and then that it wasn’t worth risking my safety. I genuinely thought I would be injured.

“Now I’m no longer there, nobody is patrolling that crossing and there are so many children who use it. It’s worrying.”

Mr Abbott, a former chemist and teacher, added: “Work needs to start as soon as possible to improve the safety of the junction, or else there will undoubtedly be a serious accident.”

County council spokesman Paul Smith said: “There have been no injury accidents on this stretch of road since 1979.

“Nonetheless, we have heard what has been said and we will look into this.”

Parents backed Mr Abbott’s calls calls for safety measures.

Mother-of-four Renata Lanzoni, from Beechey Avenue, has two children, Julie, eight, and Karen, seven, at St Nicholas’s School, and has been campaigning for a crossing for several years.

She said: “If the crossing is dangerous for a strapping 6ft 6in man, dressed in a yellow fluorescent overcoat and brandishing a ‘Stop’ sign, what does it say about the daily danger our children face?

“I urge the council to take immediate action to solve this situation, before a fatal accident takes place. This is a highly dangerous spot.

“We petitioned the council for two years for a lollipop man or woman to be installed there. Now, after just six weeks, we’re back to square one.”

Mary Clarkson, the Lord Mayor of Oxford and a Marston ward councillor, backed calls for action.

She said: “It’s totally unacceptable for a local authority to wait for an accident to happen before introducing safety measures.

“Who is the person who has to be seriously hurt, or even killed, before something is done?

“Something desperately needs to be done at the junction and we need to keep up pressure on the council.”

Rachel Crouch, headteacher of St Nicholas’s School, declined to comment.