PARENTS fear their children could be seriously injured or even killed having to cross a busy main road in Greenock to get to school.

Pupils of Lady Alice Primary now have to navigate hectic Dunlop Street in order to catch a bus to their temporary home at the former St Stephen’s High in Port Glasgow, with one mum describing it like a game of ‘chicken’ as youngsters navigate in and out of oncoming traffic.

Staff and students will spend the next 18 months away from their Inverkip Road home while the building is given a £3.8m makeover.

During that time, the pupils will be bussed to and from the Port decant school but parents are concerned about the current pick-up and drop-off arrangements.

Mum Caroline Arkley, who lives in Branchton, has daughters Louise, 11, and seven-year-old Kirstin at the school.

She told the Tele: “It’s an accident waiting to happen on Dunlop Street.

“The pick-up point is next to the old Rankin Park building and there’s no school crossing patrol and no traffic lights – it’s like playing chicken. It’s impossible in the morning.”

Caroline believes that placing a lollipop man or woman on Dunlop Street could avoid a potentially fatal accident, but she says council officials ruled out the move, claiming that there are adequate traffic light crossings nearby.

A set is located outside Lady Alice at the bottom of Grieve Road, but parents insist the lights are too far away from the bus pick-up spot.

There are also lights at Barrs Cottage but no safe crossing point between there and Dunlop Street, meaning youngsters would still have to walk all the way over to the ones at the school and then double back on themselves to navigate the roads safely.

Caroline said: “It worries me. I phoned the local authority and they said they are not putting on school crossing patrols.

“They’re telling people to get off a bus at Barrs Cottage and walk to Grieve Road and come back again with the weather we get in Greenock.

“Are they going to wait until a kid is hurt before they do something? If somebody doesn’t get knocked down then there’s going to be a car accident.”

The pupils are being picked up on the opposite side of the A78 from where Lady Alice is, just on the outer edges of Rankin Park before the roundabout.

Another angry parent, who did not want to be named, has blasted this set-up as a ‘disgrace’ while a grandmother who spoke to the Tele hit out too, saying ‘it really is bad’.

Council officials today said they will look again at the current set-up and explore the idea of introducing a lollipop person.

A local authority staff member was also on hand when the Tele spoke to parents on the first day of the decant on Tuesday.

A council spokesman said: “There is already a safe crossing point at the Lady Alice Primary pick-up point and this has been explained to parents but it appears that some are choosing to cross the road elsewhere which we would strongly advise against.

“Given the concerns raised we will look again at the arrangements and consider whether a crossing patrol is required.”