A MUM has launched an urgent campaign to get new safety measures installed outside an Ely school after her three-year-old daughter was almost hit by a car.

Rachel Young said: “I just can’t the picture of my daughter and the car out of my mind; it has been like a nightmare.

“When the car came to an emergency stop it was just about a foot away from my daughter; the bumper was the same height as her shoulder. If it had hit her neck, she would not be here today.”

The close shave on Friday afternoon happened outside Spring Meadow School in High Barns.

Two months ago the Ely Standard highlighted the lack of a lollipop person crossing, despite a two-year recruitment drive.

Now 27-year-old Rachel is writing to MP Jim Paice, to members of Cambridgeshire County Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council, calling for urgent safety measures to be put in place. She has also spoken to the headteacher, and contacted the school road safety group and school governors.

Rachel said: “My father and I had gone to pick up Olivia and my six-year-old son Wesley.

“We were waiting to cross when a car from the right stopped; but I told the children to wait and look both ways. A car from the left stopped, but then the driver coming from the right got impatient and started to move.

“My daughter had walked into the road, luckily my dad shouted and she came back; the car had to slam its brakes on.

“I cried for two hours afterwards, I can’t get the vision of it out of my mind.

“My daughter and my son cried, and other children were shocked by what happened.”

Rachel says she wants to see a lollipop or zebra crossing installed.

“We used to have a lollipop lady both morning and evening, but she was never replaced.”

Councillor Elaine Griffin-Singh, a member of East Cambridgeshire District Council and Ely City Council, said: “Someone is already in training to work the morning session; but the county council says the amount of traffic in the afternoons does not meet the criteria for a lollipop crossing. We are hoping to get a zebra crossing installed there and the county council will be looking at signage in the area.”

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “Subject to final checks, an appointment has been made to cover the morning shift in High Barns. The road does not meet the required criteria for a school crossing patrol, but we are looking at securing joint funding for a zebra crossing or pelican crossing or something similar.”