WORRIED parents in Addingham have blasted Bradford Council this week for refusing to place a lollipop lady on a busy school road.

Last week, the Gazette reported the council's decision not to place a crossing patrol on Bolton Road, outside the village's primary school.

It said current crossing facilities on St Paul's Rise - half a mile away from the school - were more than adequate for pupils.

Now, parents and parish councillors have renewed their calls for a lollipop lady and better

signs, claiming the road is a danger zone and a nightmare to cross.

Parish councillor Daniel Palmer, who takes his grandchildren to the school, said Bradford Council needed to visit the village and speak to parents and teachers.

"Has this council chap any idea where Addingham is? St Paul's Rise, which is actually now called Old Station Way, is at least half a mile from the school. I don't think the guy knows what he's talking about.

"It's just at the school where we want the crossing. What about all the people who live at the bottom of the village? There's a major problem. We have got young mothers taking children to school perhaps with pushchairs and there are cars parked all the way down the road."

His concerns were echoed by parents fed up with negotiating parked cars and heavy traffic on the road.

"I live on Bolton Road and I know what it's like," said Elaine Cooke, 43.

Mrs Cooke needs to cross the road to bring Georgina, 8, and Ellie, 9, to school but says she takes her life in her hands every morning and afternoon. "It's a blind bend. There's a sign there to say there's a school but it's not that clear and the parked cars are atrocious."

"We definitely need something doing," agreed Marilyn Doherty, of School Lane. "We want another lollipop lady or man or crossing or some sort of traffic lights.

"I think it would be a good idea," said mother Lindsay Rollins. "I park over the road by the old people's bungalows and it is impossible trying to cross the road."

Mrs Rollins, 35, said the road was a potential accident waiting to happen. "This road could really do with a lollipop lady."

Jane Drake, head teacher of the school, said parents could lessen the problem by parking away from Bolton Road.

"We recommend that they use the car park at the Swan, and there is parking near the old building and the Methodist Church - it's not a big distance," she said.

"But I think one of the major problems is that the actual signage is very poor. The school sign is just as you come over the brow of the hill and people who don't know the village come over the brow of that hill too fast. It's things like that that worry me."

A spokesman for Bradford council said: "We are in

discussion with the parish council about ways of reaching a satisfactory conclusion to this problem.

"Traffic and pedestrians are being assessed to check in this area to find the safest routes for children to attend school."