Children have near misses at junction of Mitcham Lane and Ambleside Avenue

Several children heading to St Leonard's Primary School this morning had near misses with traffic at the junction of Mitcham Lane and Ambleside Avenue.

The reason is that the "green man" on the four pedestrian crossings there is not coming on. Children are therefore having to guess when it is safe to cross, as the "red man" shows constantly. This means that children are having to cross the road at one point effectively blind to whether traffic is about to come around the corner, on their way to and from St Leonard's Primary School. Some of the older children are often unaccompanied by adults.

We have contacted Transport for London to sort it out urgently and asked the local Safer Neighbourhood Team if they can do anything to help while we wait for Transport for London to take action.

This is a junction where there have been two deaths over the years, and which we have been campaigning to make safer. Buses frequently jump the lights. Children and parents from the school held a demonstration there last year. Transport for London have agreed to review the junction this summer and make changes.

There's a video of the junction here (when the 'Green Man' was working normally on the crossings):



[Update 3.00pm The problem has now been fixed]