School left without lollipop person for two years in plea for safer roads

The petition committee meeting, held at Sandwell Council on Wednesday, heard that 92 people across Friar Park, Wednesbury, had signed the petition calling for traffic calming measures.

In the petition, they called for an installation of a crossing on Oxford Street, parallel to Mesty Croft Academy.

They also called for a school crossing patrol officer – also known as a lollipop lady or man – to be installed at the school site.

One resident, speaking on behalf of parents at Mesty Croft Academy, in Wednesbury, said: “No car seems to want to stop. It’s unbelievable.

“You’ve got the blind bend coming around from the shops. They come speeding around there, and the children could get run over.

“I have made concerns that it is a danger, and because there’s no traffic warden and there’s no crossings there. You’re having to dodge in between the cars to cross the road.”

The resident claimed she saw a car “overturned on its side” fifteen minutes before children arrived, which she said could have been a “really serious” accident.

“Some parents let the kids go to school on the road, which is Year Six. And they cross the road on their own.

“All I want is children to be safe and if you could do something to let children cross the road safe it would be a good help.”

But it was revealed in the committee meeting that the school had gone without a crossing patrol officer for almost two years.

Councillor Simon Hackett said: “Before lockdown, which was two years ago now, the long term person retired.

“I know somebody was brought in on a temporary basis, but then that person stopped as well.

“I know we’ve had lockdown in the middle of all that, but it’s been well over two years, when the long term person retired. That’s a long time to have thought about getting somebody in.

“For me, it’s a matter of urgency, that one, a crossing is put in, but in the interim period, somebody is [employed] there.  We can’t afford to let months and months drift by.”

Councillor Zahoor Ahmed, cabinet member for housing, said: “We’ve advertised the position the normal way. Do we need to promote it within our local schools as well?

“There might be somebody locally might be interested in these kind of things.”

Robin Weare, service manager for highways at Sandwell Council, said: “We’ve had difficulty recruiting new school crossing patrol officers to replace the ones that used to be there.

“So what we’re looking at at the moment is doing further surveys, pedestrian camps and traffic camera traffic surveys, to check if the location meets the national criteria for a formal crossing facility.

“If we can make that case then we will need to find the funding to put a crossing in, in place of the former school crossing patrol.

“But those investigations will be done and will report back to the committee.”