PARENTS of pupils at William Martin School where shocked to discover on the last day of term before Easter, that their Lollipop Lady, Catherine, was leaving and would not be replaced.

A petition with over 250 signatures was recently presented to Essex County Council calling for them to investigate the speed of traffic in the area adjacent to the school with a view to introducing traffic calming measures.

Petition founders Keeley Maynard and Mark Ingall had hoped that a speed survey would result in measures being taken that would slow speeding cars after a number of near misses and a recent accident.

Mark, a parent at William Martin, local resident and the Labour candidate for Bush Fair in the forthcoming Local Council elections said, “It’s unbelievable. A child was hit by a car at the end of last year, there have been a number of near misses, the lollipop lady herself has had to take avoiding action from cars and so parents are rightfully concerned. They have expressed their concern by collecting signatures and trusted Essex to act on their concerns and their response has been to make the crossing outside this busy school even more dangerous.”

Keeley, the petition founder is thoroughly disappointed. Keeley said “we were invited to the House of Commons to meet local MP Robert Halfon, who said he would do what he could to help, and now our children are even more at risk.”