A GREAT-GRANDFATHER who fears a child could be killed if a council makes its school crossing patrols redundant has started a campaign to stop it.

In less than a week, lollipop man Albert Carter has collected 600 signatures protesting the Darlington Borough Council review of the service, which could see volunteers replacing the 36 school crossing patrols, saving the council £300,000.

The proposal emerged after the authority sent letters to its lollipop men and women advising the move to a volunteer service was being considered.

Mr Carter hopes to collect at least 800 names before he takes the petition to the council. He has put petitions in several of the shops on West Auckland Road and parents of the children who use his crossing are also collecting signatures.

Some of the town’s schools are also supporting the campaign.

The-77-year-old said getting rid of the lollipop men and women would be dangerous.

“It is kids’ lives you are talking about here,” he said. “Lollipop men and women are needed. It is not something you can cut back on. I am starting the petition now because I want to show the council how people feel.”

Mr Carter, who has worked as a lollipop man since he retired from his full time job 12 years ago, has worked on eight different roads.

“Working as a lollipop man is a brilliant job. I love it. The kids and the parents are great.“ “West Auckland Road, where I work now, is just so busy. If you got rid of lollipop men and women, you would be putting children’s lives at risk. There could be a fatality.”

Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We are facing a very challenging budget round. School crossing patrols are very important to us, however, they are not a service required to be delivered by law and so they are more vulnerable to budget reductions than other areas.

"All our crossing patrol staff have been sent a letter telling them that we are looking at the feasibility of the service, including investigating the possibility of volunteers operating patrols in the future. None of the staff have been put on notice of redundancy."