Lollipop ladies have been handed a new weapon to tackle abusive or speeding drivers outside schools.

Patrolmen and women are to be given high-tech lollipops with video cameras capable of recording the bad behaviour of the drivers they encounter.

The tiny hidden cameras will be embedded in the black strip on their lollipop signs - the place once designed for traffic enforcers to write up in chalk the licence plate details of offending motorists.

Last year around 1,400 lollipop rage incidents were reported to councils. Dozens of lollipop men and women have needed hospital treatment after being hit by cars, while scores more have complained of regular abuse and intimidation.

David Francis was a lollipop man in Gosport, Hampshire, until he was seriously injured by a vehicle last year. He is unable to walk unaided and continues to take medication.

“I’m thankful every day that the children weren’t hurt, but it deeply saddens me that children saw me lying injured in the road. A few seconds earlier and the outcome could have been far worse.” said Mr Francis.

There are often problems gathering sufficient evidence to impose penalties on drivers who fail to stop at crossings or intimidate or injure patrolmen.

Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire will be among the first to roll out the new £890 lollipops, they hope footage can be used as evidence to enforce punishments.

Legally, lollipop patrols have the same status as a red traffic light and failure to stop can lead to a £1,000 fine or three penalty points on a driving licence.

The number of aggressive incidents against lollipop patrols is often cited as one of the reasons for a constant shortage of people wanting to do the job.

Vera Irving, who has been helping children across the road in Huddersfield for 20 years, said most people are fine, but recently she had an experience that left her "sick to the stomach".

"The car had stopped. The children stepped out, the mum stepped out. Then the lady just carried on, nearly knocked the children down."

"If the mum hadn't pulled the children out of the way, they'd have got run over, they'd have got killed," she said.

Lollipop volunteers, many of them elderly, also face drivers swerving around them when they are in the road, revving their engines, swearing and using threatening language or sounding their horns while children are crossing.

Councillor David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Association’s transport board, said: “It’s unbelievable that we have to take this action, but the lives of children are at risk from increasing numbers of drivers who are so selfish that they are willing to put lives at risk by refusing to stop for 30 seconds at a school crossing.

“Councils will do everything in their power to stamp this out. Abuse and intimidation of lollipop men and women who are carrying out a vital service to the community will also not be tolerated.

“Motorists need to be made aware that they are committing a criminal offence and we hope this new technology will prove an effective deterrent.”

A similar scheme giving lollipop ladies cameras mounted on hats was trialled last year with a positive response from the patrollers.

Beverley Kingstone, a lollipop lady in Nuneaton, said she had experienced less abuse since she used her head-cam.

"It's made a big difference, definitely a lot less abuse. Drivers are actually stopping a lot more for us now."

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