Parents at William Morris Primary School in Banbury are calling for a zebra crossing in busy Bretch Hill.

Banbury Town Council members were last night expected to urged highways chiefs to look again at putting in a crossing.

The plan was rejected in 2010 by Oxfordshire County Council over budget constraints and it said that there had been no accidents in the past five years.

But a series of near misses has led to parents and councillors to demand action now.

Ceri Whiffen, 26, said daughter Jessica, three, came within inches of a car after running into Bretch Hill in December.

The Edinburgh Way resident, also mum to Katie, five, said: “It stopped, but it scared the life out of us. It really freaked me out.

“I make them hold the pushchair because it is so dangerous.”

Mum Sandra, whose daughter Sarah, nine, is at the school, said: “There needs to be a crossing somewhere near the school.

“There used to be a lollipop lady which was brilliant because they could be seen across the road.

“It has gone from bad to worse. There is going to be a bad accident here, I know it.”

Conservative town councillor Patricia Tompson was last night due to ask members of the town council’s traffic advisory committee to back her call. She said: “People are driving along Bretch Hill far too fast.

“There is a 20mph notice all the way, but they take no notice.”

She said a crossing should go at the busiest point for pedestrians, likely to be in nearby Hastings Road.

Keith Strangwood, Tory county councillor for Banbury Ruscote, supported the move.

He added: “I have had parents calling me with near misses.”