PARENTS have branded Bolton Council "heartless" for leaving up to 200 children to cross a busy road unsupervised. Mr Abbey Rawat, a governor at Sunning Hill Primary School, Daubhill, claims the school has been told it will have to pay if it wants to replace a lunchtime crossing patrol which was axed in council cuts in September. Furious parents are now campaigning for the reinstatement of a lollipop service.

But a council official has warned that further cuts lie ahead.

Mr Rawat, whose three children all go to the Derby Street school, said the decision was "disgusting".

Mr Rawat, of Range Street, Daubhill, said: "The school is on a main road which is very busy. More than 200 children go home at lunchtime. I can't believe the council's attitude."

Mr David Sutton, head of highways planning and regulations, told Mr Rawat in a letter that no schools in Bolton met the criteria required to retain a lunchtime crossing patrol.

He suggested that children at the school could have extra road safety training by council officers.

And he told the BEN: "As part of cost cuts we have retained most of the important aspects of the crossing patrols and have cut on the lesser needs like lunchtimes. Children have no compulsion to leave school at lunchtime and if they need to go home then a parent should come and pick them up.

"Unfortunately, the whole service is in jeopardy and cuts look likely for next year. We will be lucky to avoid redundancies."

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