Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Vacant lollipop posts prompt child safety fears

Post Thumbnail

A lack of lollipop men and women has hit Perth and Kinross.

One in ten posts are vacant across the region, with road safety campaigners warning that puts children at serious risk.

While it is attempting to fill the positions, Perth and Kinross Council has told parents the responsibility to protect children is theirs.

A national road safety charity has also urged the council to do more to protect children walking to and from school.

Brake spokesman Jack Kushner said: “Every child has the right to walk to school without being threatened by fast traffic. School crossing patrols provide an essential service and are highly valued by communities.

“Brake urges local councils to ensure that lollipop positions are filled, to ensure that children can travel safely to schools and around their local communities.”

The importance of lollipop men and women was highlighted by an accident in Perth on the first day of the this term, when a young girl was struck by a car on the city’s Glasgow Road.

She escaped serious injury but local residents claimed she had been crossing at a position that had previously been monitored by a patroller.

At the time the council said it was inappropriate to comment on the incident, but did not dispute the claim.

A spokeswoman said: “The school crossing patrol service provided by the council in approved locations is aimed at supporting local communities.

“The council has no statutory duty to provide this service. It is a parental responsibility to ensure children arrive at school safely.

“Parents are alerted as soon as it is known that a crossing service is not available. The council will continue to work with its partners to make the role of school crossing patroller attractive to those seeking employment by offering combined hours posts where the opportunity arises.

“At present there are five vacancies for school crossing patrollers in Perth and Kinross which equates to approximately 10% of posts unfilled.”

The issue of road safety has taken on new prominence across the region in the wake of the death of tragic Coupar Angus toddler Harlow Edwards.

She was struck by a car last month, along with big sister Dionne, 17, and six-year-old brother Leon, as she walked near her home.

Residents in her home town are pushing for safety improvements and traffic calming measures, but have been angered by claims they are “too expensive”.

Scotland-wide issue

Councils across Scotland have cut the amount of money spent on lollipop men and women in the past three years, a freedom of information request has revealed.

School crossing patrol personnel numbers have dropped by about 75 since 2013, sparking fears for safety.

Overall, two-thirds of councils cut their expenditure on patrols, spending £810,000 less on the service than three years ago.

Stirling Council had reduced its outlay by the highest percentage, spending 50% less than in 2013.

The figures were obtained from Freedom of Information requests by the BBC answered by 30 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

It showed there are now just over 2,100 school patrol officers in Scotland.

Figures weren’t available for Dundee or Angus but in Perth and Kinross the percentage spend was down 8.71% from 2013 to 2015, but only down 1.69% in Fife over the same period.

Despite widespread reductions, some local authorities actually increased their spend.