Mad !

Schoolchildren were left to cross a busy road on their own when their lollipop man went off sick - because teachers were banned from helping by health and safety zealots. The junior school pupils - some as young as seven - had to dodge rush-hour traffic after council officials ruled that teachers were not sufficiently trained to take over.

Parents yesterday accused the pedantic officials of putting their children's lives at risk. One mother, who refused to be named, said: "I called the council and they told me that for health and safety reasons they couldn't put someone there who hadn't had the proper training.

"But there were seven-year-olds having to cross the road themselves - it's health and safety gone mad."

Youngsters at the independent Royal High School in Bath are normally guided across the road by a council-supplied lollipop man.

When he called in sick on Monday, teachers phoned Bath and North East Somerset Council to ask for a replacement. But there were none available and a request to police to provide officers for the task also proved fruitless. Staff at the 198-pupil school were then told they could not step in because they did not have the correct health and safety training.

Parents received a letter the following day to warn them there would be no crossing patrol until after the half-term break next week.

Head Helen Fathers said: "We have been told not to help because the individual would be personally liable for any accidents. Staff would be very happy to do it, but we have to do what the council tell us because the road is not part of the school, so we're not insured on it."

A council spokesman said there is a shortage of crossing patrol officers so it was unable to supply emergency cover. "A series of rigorous checks and training procedures is in place to ensure that anyone employed to carry out crossing patrol duties meets a number of requirements," she added. "These include a Criminal Record Bureau check and tests for substance and alcohol misuse. It is for these reasons that the council itself cannot provide or authorise an untrained volunteer to staff the crossing."

But Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: "If the council wants to keep pupils safe then it has got to consider children before cost, which means employing more than one person to cover each crossing.

"Councils like this will happily employ two people to operate the photocopier - one to do it and one to check it's safe - but they won't pay for a reserve lollipop patrol."