A fifth of all Oxfordshire's school crossings are unmanned due to a chronic shortage of patrol staff. Zahra Akkerhuys spent a morning with a school patrol officer at West Oxford County Primary School . . .

WHATEVER the weather, lollipop man Brian Hunt helps pupils at West Oxford County Primary School get to school safely.

Brian HuntGrandfather Brian, 64, has worked at the school, in Ferry Hinksey Road, for two years. Every morning and afternoon he confidently stops the traffic making its way to and from the Osney Mead Industrial Estate.

Mr Hunt, who lives in Stonesfield, always stays a few minutes after the school bell is rung at 9am to make sure he's there for the late-comers. He knows many of the pupils by name and at Christmas some of the children give him boxes of chocolate to thank him for helping them cross during the year.

Mr Hunt says: "This is a great job for retired people - it gives you a reason to get up in the morning. I can't understand why they can't get people to do it."

He is as much a favourite with the parents as he is the children.

Jericho mother Caroline Wiggs, who takes her six-year-old son Tom to the school each morning, says: "Everyone knows Brian. It's really good for the parents to know he's there helping everyone cross the road. I find it very reassuring because this is a really busy road."

Mr Hunt says Ferry Hinksey Road is particularly busy because hundreds of lorries drive past each day on their way to the industrial estate. He says: "The traffic along here is very heavy, what with the lorries, and some people come tearing along the road really fast, especially when they're late for work. Over the time I have been here I have taught the children to stop at the kerb until I signal for them to come across.

"You have to be careful with some of the little ones in case they dart out without waiting. You've got to have eyes in the back of your head for this job."