A £50,000 safety zone outside a New Forest school is failing to do its job, local residents claim.

Parents and children at Brockenhurst Primary School have waited more than three years for traffic-calming measures to be installed in Sway Road, which runs past the 206-pupil school.

The safety zone - a crossing marked by bollards and special kerbstones - was completed for September, but only a few weeks later a minor accident took place at the crossing, triggering alarm calls from local residents.

Brockenhurst businessman David Bennett said: "Two vehicles crashed just feet away from half a dozen children on the poorly-designed and implemented crossing. Young children, including my own four-year-old son, saw it all.

"Conditions were dry and visibility good. If this can happen in near perfect conditions what would be the effect of poor light, rain or fallen leaves?"

Parish council chairman John Korbey said: " The crossing is done, the money spent, but it has not improved safety for our children.

Councillor John Purkess, who runs a grocery store in the village, said: "Warning lights are there but they are not working. Why? Lights would indicate to motorists that they are approaching a safety zone and caution is needed."

Councillor Nina Ball, also chairman of Brockenhurst School governors, said they needed someone to switch the warning lights on at each end of the school day.

"A lollipop person is the best solution and we hope we have a possible candidate already employed at the school," she said.

"But from the school's point of view, road safety to and from school is not a school issue. It is a parental responsibility."

Brockenhurst's county councillor, Ken Thornber, said it was not fair to label the new zone as inadequate because of the minor accident in September.

"The accident involved two 16-year-olds on mopeds," he said.

"The first rider stopped to allow children and parents to cross the road but the rider behind did not slow down and so collided with the first moped.

"The view of the police is that the accident was caused not by the new layout, but by the rider not giving due care and attention."

He added that New Forest traffic management officer PC Chalky White and officers from the county surveyor's department planned to meet soon with Brockenhurst parents to iron out any continuing concerns about the safety zone outside the school.