Could you help keep children safe on the school run in Hartlepool?

Hartlepool Borough Council has announced plans to establish a new pool of casual lollipop men and women.

The move comes as there is often a gap in school crossing patrol availability when a lollipop man or woman leaves their post.

It is hoped the move to establish a group of casual workers will ensure cover is available when the recruitment process for a permanent replacement is carried out.

Councillor Stephen Akers-Belcher, Chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s neighbourhood services committee, said: “We are putting in place these plans to recruit a pool of casual lollipop men and women.

“Often, when someone moves on from the service, there is a gap as a new person is recruited and this development will help to massively reduce occurrences like this.

“Recently, when a lollipop man retired, word quickly spread that he was not being replaced and this simply wasn’t the case. We were just going through the recruitment process to employ a new School Crossing Patrol.

“Having a casual pool of lollipop men and women will also help cover instances of sickness.”

Anyone interested in applying to be a casual school crossing patrol warden in Hartlepool should visit www.northeastjobs.org.uk/hartlepoolboroughcouncil and click on the Traffic / Highways / Road Safety link at the bottom of the page.