Parents and lollipop ladies say the planned scrapping of school crossing patrols will “put children’s lives at risk”.Hyperbole?
In some areas, that may well be the case, but I took a day off to take a cat to the vet recently for his yearly vaccination, and was struck by how many of these crossing patrols are actually stationed at zebra crossings. And in some cases, even pelican crossings!
And in anticipation of that point:
Pearl Adams, aged 59, who is the lollipop lady at the school, said: “I’m also a pair of eyes looking out for other dangers to the children besides crossing the road.”‘Other dangers’? Landslides, volcanoes, Rodents of Unusual Size?
A clue is in the comments:
jaydon, Bromley says...
They provide essential safety for our children when crossing busy roads, and are the eyes and hears to other aspects of child safety. There have been a number of incidents recently of strangers trying to talk to children on their way home from school.
While some of these patrols are surplus to requirements I keep noticing it is "low cost" front line services like this that seem to get cut.
ReplyDeleteIf someone wants to cheer me up they'll report all those high paid make work jobs getting cut... Na that's not going to happen is it.
"‘Other dangers’? Landslides, volcanoes, Rodents of Unusual Size?"
ReplyDeleteFoxes?
Trying to talk to children? ... omg, how dare they? kill them now!
ReplyDeleteWhat a ridiculous paranoid country UK has become.
Adults not allowed within a 5 metre zone of children next?
Maybe eye contact to be outlawed?
l dread to think what these kids will be like as adults.
That'll be Yazzer importuning children. I hope the crossing-point person wallops her with the lollipop.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"‘Other dangers’? Landslides, volcanoes, Rodents of Unusual Size?"
ReplyDeleteHow about crossing a 1200 ft deep gorge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buNYi3-E2yU
W/V "surianco" - almost sounds like a place in South America...
I used to work with someone part of whose job was to deal with the council's recruitment of lollipop ladies/men. There were long-term vacancies for about half of the patrols and, as far as I can recall, there were no reports of loitering paedophiles, kidnappings, alien abductions or, for that matter, squashed children at any of these schools. So, while I agree with Disenfranchised of Buckingham that it is a front line service being cut (IMO because, like libraries, it stokes resentment against the cuts), I'm not convinced that the patrols serve much purpose.
ReplyDelete@Disenfranchised of Buckingham, quite so, on a par with Manchester closing all bar one of its public toilets rather than culling a few diversity outreach 'workers' or climate change officers.
ReplyDeleteThese measures are intended to hurt the public by cutting back useful services that we want rather than the make-work rubbish that we never asked for (and which are also instruments of coercion and control but that's another issue).
"If someone wants to cheer me up they'll report all those high paid make work jobs getting cut..."
ReplyDeleteNot going to happen.
"l dread to think what these kids will be like as adults."
Listen to 'Jeremy Vine' or watch 'Jeremy Kyle'. You'll find out.
"There were long-term vacancies for about half of the patrols and, as far as I can recall, there were no reports of loitering paedophiles, kidnappings, alien abductions or, for that matter, squashed children at any of these schools."
QED!