Newcastle 'high-risk' crossing cannot attract lollipop patrol

School staff say they worry children are often marooned on islands crossing Coast Road in Heaton, Newcastle

A road junction where two school pupils have been hit by cars has had no crossing patrol for almost three years despite being designated "high risk".

The crossing on the Coast Road in Heaton was one of only two retained amid cuts by Newcastle City Council.

Jesmond Park Academy head teacher Steve Campbell said the crossing was "not fit for purpose".

The council said it had been unable to fill the £5,000-a-year role but would be re-advertising soon.

Mr Campbell accepted the authority had not dismissed the problem but said filling the position was taking "too long".

About 400 students from his school alone crossed twice a day and two had been knocked down in the past 18 months, he said.

One was hit when the lights were on red and "he thought it was safe to cross", Mr Campbell said.

The school has shared dashcam footage of an accident which shows a driver hitting a child after going through a red light.

"You see this body getting thrown in the air," Mr Campbell said.

"You wouldn't believe that the child didn't die.

"We see too many people jumping the lights."

Drivers trying to get through the junction before the lights change end up straddling the crossing after the green man is lit

When five of the city's seven patrols were scrapped in 2017, crossings on the Coast Road/Newton Road and Great North Road/Broadway East were retained.

At the time the council said that was because "these are classified as high-risk sites requiring both formal crossing facilities and a school crossing patrol officer" .

The Coast Road has been without an officer for almost three years after the former lollipop man was unable to work in a socially-distanced way during the pandemic and then retired.

The part-time job pays £5,082 a year for 12 hours a week.

The vicar of nearby St Gabriel's Church, Father Jonathan Lawson, said he found the "lack of urgency" in filling the post frustrating.

"I rather assumed that you'd second someone there if it was that important, but maybe that's naïve," he said.

"It seems an extraordinary excuse that you just can't appoint someone."

Pupils often have to weave among stationary cars when the lights change

Fr Lawson said he worried for the hundreds of children at Jesmond Park, St Mary's and Cragside schools crossing every day.

"The particularly dangerous bit that I think everyone's identified is that, to cross the road, you have to stand on an island in between on a dual carriageway," he said.

The council said it would be re-advertising for a crossing patrol officer with a "more engaging and less formal style of job advert which we hope appeals to a wider audience".

It was considering enlisting schools, councillors and community groups to help spread the word to people living in the local area, a spokesperson said.