A SCHOOLBOY has been hit by a car on a new zebra crossing, just months after a lollipop lady was withdrawn.

The school patrol crossing at the junction of Adastral Road and Sherborn Crescent in Canford Heath was pulled this summer after Borough of Poole assessed the road to be ‘too busy’ for that kind of crossing.

But angry parents fear the replacement zebra crossing is unsafe and putting hundreds of children from the three nearby schools, Ad Astra First, Haymoor Junior and Magna Academy, at risk.

Last Wednesday 10-year-old Luke Johnson was knocked to the floor on his way to school when a car stopped at the crossing moved off too soon.

Fortunately, he was not injured, but his mum says it is an accident waiting to happen.

The mum-of-three Victoria Johnson told the Echo: “He was incredibly lucky. It’s an accident waiting to happen in that area.”

She is one of almost 650 signatories on an e-petition calling for the school crossing patrol to be reinstated.

The petition, started just over a month ago, said children were getting ‘stuck on the island in the middle of the road waiting for cars to stop, which is incredibly dangerous.’ It adds: ‘There have been a couple of instances where traffic has gone to pull away and a child has run across.’ Borough of Poole told the Echo the road had become too busy for a school crossing patrol to be considered the most suitable method of crossing.

John McVey, passenger transport and accessibility manager at Borough of Poole, said: “The school crossing patrol offered advice to pedestrians at the start of the autumn term while they got used to the new crossing but this was only necessary for a few days.”

He added: “The new crossing benefitted the whole community 365 days a year and since its installation.”