BOLTON'S lollipop men and women could disappear in a radical re-think of council road safety policy, the BEN can reveal today.

The shock option is being explored as councillors consider whether money spent employing crossing patrols would be better used on other school-based initiatives.

Cllr Guy Harkin, council cabinet member for environment, quoted the example of other councils who have scrapped lollipop people altogether.

And while he stressed that the council's policy development committee would have an open mind on the fate of the town's 109 crossing patrols, he said the review would look rigorously at their future.

He said: "The conventional wisdom is that school crossing patrols are the best way of doing things but it's time for a new look."

Cllr Harkin's comments came as a Farnworth primary school headteacher voiced her dismay at children being left to cross a busy junction on their own.

Lesley Gutteridge, head of All Saints Church of England School in Farnworth, spoke out after learning that the junction with Bolton Road, Egerton Street and Hall Lane will have no manned patrol while the regular lollipop lady recovers from an operation.

It is already council policy not to replace lollipop staff supervising at pelican crossings when they retire or move elsewhere. There are no stand-by patrols to cover for absences.

Cllr Harkin said yesterday that difficulties recruiting new crossing patrol officers meant the council had to look at imaginative alternatives.

He said: "Some schools have got 'human trains' where a parent or patrol officer picks children up and they walk to school together in crocodile fashion.

"There are other things beyond static patrols which can assist in getting children to school more safely.

"For as long as I have been a member of this authority there has been a problem with recruitment.

"We will do what's best for the safety of children in the Bolton borough."

However, supporters of school crossing patrols are likely to be alarmed by the spectre of their replacement.

Ex-lollipop man Len Ward, 70, who resigned last year in protest against being denied a two-week holiday in term-time, said he would oppose any move to cut the number of patrols.

He said: "Someone has to keep an eye on kids, otherwise they will just run across the road.

"Some of those schools are on dangerous roads and you really need somebody to supervise."

All Saints CE head teacher Lesley Gutteridge is another who feels lollipop men and women play a vital role.

She said: "Already parents have told me that they have had to rush to stop their young children from running out into the road.

"Some of our older pupils take their younger brothers and sisters home and I fear for their safety."

But Dave Sutton, council head of highways planning and regulation, said: "I am aware of the situation at this junction but we do not feel that the pupils will be put in danger.

"Children are taught road safety at schools and have some common road sense."