Parents pleading for a pedestrian crossing at a busy East Oxford junction took their protest to County Hall.

Campaigners claim children are involved in near misses with traffic every day at the junction of Boundary Brook Road, Iffley Road and Donnington Bridge Road.

But they fear it will take a death before the county council listens to their warnings.

There is currently a small traffic island at the junction, but no pelican or zebra crossing for children going to Larkrise Primary School, in Boundary Brook Road, and the Donnington Doorstep Family Centre, off Iffley Road.

Mother-of-two Anna Thorne, who runs the family centre, said: "The greatest anxiety is unaccompanied children. It is gambling with those lives.

"Most of them are over eight, but I have seen some as young as five crossing the road alone. People drive down Iffley Road as though they are on the bypass.

She added: "We have been quite struck looking at the pattern of crossings that most of the new ones seem to be in more affluent areas."

The protest took place before a meeting with county council cabinet member for transport, David Robertson.

City councillors on the East Oxford area parliament offered to give £30,000 towards a solution, but Mr Robertson said that this would not be enough to guarantee a safe crossing place.

City councillor David Williams, who has been supporting the mothers' campaign, said: "So many near misses have taken place.

"It shouldn't be an issue of money because we have offered to pay, but at one point, we were told that it would not be fair to other people who wanted cross- ings."

Residents of his Iffley Fields ward have been campaigning about the junction for about 20 years, but so far, it has not been classed as a priority site.

Mother and city councillor Elise Benjamin said: "As traffic along Iffley Road has increased, it has got more and more dangerous.

"But we haven't managed to get anywhere."

The campaigners will write a report and consider whether to use a handheld speed gun to measure traffic.

Mr Robertson said: "There will be a review of that junction later in the spring.

"But it could be a case that they come back and say, there's nothing we can do."

The county council says its decisions about whether to install pedestrian crossings are limited by Government criteria.

These assess issues including air quality, accessibility, congestion and road safety at possible sites.