A NURSERY school trip is in jeopardy after police said they will be unable to provide the usual escort for the three-year-olds to cross a busy main road in Horwich.

Now Sonia Joy Biggs, owner of Meadow Hill Nursery, has vowed to stop the traffic herself to allow the children to cross Chorley New Road safely.

The annual educational trip involves a group of 16 three-year-olds travelling by bus to Bolton town centre to visit the library, have lunch at the Octagon and visit Bolton Museum and Aquarium.

Mrs Biggs has been running the Chorley New Road nursery for 15 years and has taken children on this trip for the past four years.

Each year, police have provided an escort to stop traffic to allow the youngsters to cross to the bus stop in safety. This year, police told Mrs Biggs they are unable to help and suggested she contact Bolton Council's highways department.

Mrs Biggs said: "The police told me I could ring on the day but that is no use as I need to plan in advance.

"When I spoke to the highways department, they said I should use the central reservation outside the nursery to cross, but that is impractical and would take a long time."

The trip is due to start at 9.15am on Thursday and Mrs Biggs has vowed that it will not be cancelled.

"I will ask the parents to help me and we will all stop the traffic together so we can get them across safely. This trip is to educate and stimulate the children and people just seem to be making things more difficult, especially at the moment with all the negative publicity private nursery schools are getting.

Terry Bullock, group engineer for Bolton Council's traffic management department, said: "We can only legally stop traffic at a specified school crossing. Other than that, our officers don't have any more power than the general public.

"While we are sympathetic, we can't unfortunately help in this situation."

Chief Insp Simon Miskell said: "Cases like this are judged on their own individual merit and would normally go through our events and planning division.

"We are always keen to help in the community and I would be willing to speak with Mrs Biggs and discuss the need for an escort to see whether we could help."