AN elderly Hampshire school-crossing warden has been given a brand-new lollipop even though he has been banned from using it.

John Crabtree, 81, was forbidden from standing in the road and using his lollipop by council chiefs last month, as reported in the Daily Echo.

But now he has been presented with a new sign and told he can only use it if a set of traffic lights in front of the school breaks down.

Hampshire County Council bosses say they decided to replace Mr Crabtree's lollipop because they update them occasionally.

As one of Hampshire's oldest lollipop crossing patrols, the pensioner has worked outside Abbotswood Junior School at Totton for almost a decade.

He is devastated that his beloved job has been reduced to pressing the button at the pelican crossing where hundreds of children cross busy Ringwood Road every morning and afternoon.

Road chiefs at Hampshire County Council claim that having a lollipop man and a set of traffic lights was too confusing for drivers.

The West Totton widower, who has nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, told the Daily Echo: "I must admit the new lollipop is better than I have ever had before but I can only use it when the lights are out.

"A lot of the parents are up in arms. Everyone I have spoken to reckons it is a disgrace and a shame. I am so frightened every time I let the children go that something is going to happen. It is always in the back of my mind that a car won't stop and something will happen, I couldn't live with that.

"I will carry on though, I won't let the children down, no way."

One parent is so angry that he is preparing to launch a questionnaire and petition to highlight the situation.

Postman Paul Sullivan, 46, of Burnbank Gardens, West Totton, said: "I am seriously worried about it because children's lives are at risk.

My daughter nearly got killed on that crossing a number of years ago when a car jumped a red light."

Anyone interested in completing Mr Sullivan's survey can contact him at: 10 Burnbank Gardens, Totton, SO40 8WE.