A BUSY road outside a New Forest school has been branded "an accident waiting to happen".

Hundreds of pupils at Priestlands School in Pennington near Lymington have to dodge traffic every day. The school has been unable to recruit a crossing patrol

warden for more than a year, despite the post being advertised repeatedly.

Now proposals to install a pedestrian crossing on the busy A337 that runs outside the school towards New Milton have been shelved by civic chiefs.

District councillor Paul Hickman, who lives in Pennington, said: "It's an accident waiting to happen and possibly a fatal one at that. It's a straight road and traffic can travel very fast along there."

He added: "My kids went to Priestlands some years ago but I can remember one of their friends breaking her leg after running out into the road."

The school's last crossing patrol warden stood down when her child left the school in July 2003.

Head teacher Chris Willsher said: "Hampshire County Council has repeatedly advertised for a school crossing patrol here and elsewhere in the county. It is very frustrating that they have been unable to recruit because there is certainly a need. This is a busy stretch of road and I am concerned about the risks to children from crossing unsupervised, particularly in the dark and wet winter months."

Mr Willsher said he was not aware of any accidents outside the school but said one pupil broke an ankle after being hit as he tried to cross the A337 near Milford in the summer.

The county council is currently struggling to recruit crossing patrol wardens for about 60 schools because few people want to work such inconvenient hours.

Priestlands was dealt a further blow when the county council decided not to go ahead with a proposal to build a pedestrian crossing outside the school.

Mr Willsher said: "It is disappointing that this section of the road does not qualify for a light-controlled crossing. We hope that the decision will be reviewed once the extended Recreation Centre on the school site is opened and there are greater numbers of pedestrians seeking access to the school throughout the day and during evenings, weekends and holidays periods."

A county council spokesman said: "Following government guidelines, the road safety team conducted a survey of traffic movements outside the school and found it did not reach the national criteria for installing a pedestrian crossing. The criteria considered are the volume of pedestrian traffic crossing the road and the volume of traffic using the road, as well as factors such as speed of vehicles and the frequency of people crossing the road."

Anyone interested in becoming a school crossing patrol warden should ring 01962 846274.