ANXIOUS parents have renewed their calls for a crossing warden after a young Bolton girl narrowly escaped being knocked down by a car outside her school.

Victoria Lester, aged eight, was crossing Shepherd Cross Street to get to Oxford Grove School in Brownlow Fold when a car screeched to a halt and narrowly missed her.

Although Victoria was shaken she was unhurt.

But her mother, Angela, said: "None of the teachers knew what had happened but when she told me about it as I picked her up later she broke down. It really terrified her." There is no pedestrian crossing or lollipop lady at the school although there is a crossing at nearby at St Joseph's RC Primary School.

According to Mrs Lester, of Osborne Grove, Bolton, children who have to cross the busy road near to the school risk their lives every day.

She said: "I never realised how much danger she was in until this happened, but she's at that age when she won't let me walk her across the road and we only live two minutes away."

Governors and parents of children at the school have been campaigning for a crossing for months and petitions have been sent to the council but, Mrs Lester said: "It seems as though they want a child to get knocked down or killed before they'll do anything about it."

Bolton Road Safety Officer Cedric Evans said: "We are looking at traffic calming in the area as a solution to the problem, but as yet the school does not meet the criteria for a crossing patrol." Oxford Grove head Mr Paul Kelly said: "The governing body have been trying to organise a crossing for a while. The road is really dangerous. cars come zooming down here all day.

"It's a bit of an attraction as it's a straight through route from Chorley Old Road to Halliwell Road. We do really need a crossing here and I can understand Mrs Lester's fears after what has happened.

"I hope the traffic calming measures that Mr Evans has promised us will help. It might force the cars to slow down a bit at least."

Mrs Lester said: "If the cars are slowed down it will help, but how long will it be before that work is done? What should our children do in the meantime? "There's a lollipop lady at the pelican crossing just over the road outside the Victoria Hotel. What good is she doing there when all she does is press the button and walk across when the green man flashes? We need her at the school where she can really help our kids."

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