A SCHOOLGIRL aged seven left seriously injured after she was knocked down on the way to school is campaigning for a crossing patroller to be reinstated.

Little Becca Stewart, who attends St Francis' Primary, is lucky to be alive after she was struck by a van in Marloch Avenue in Port Glasgow.

Following the accident, which wasn't the fault of the driver, Becca was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery for a serious leg fracture.

Becca was left wheelchair bound for six weeks.

Thankfully she has since made a full recovery and is now helping her mum to lobby for a school crossing patroller at Marloch Avenue.

She told the Tele: "I'm scared that somebody else is going to get hurt.

"There have been three people in my school who have been knocked down there."

Becca's mum Geraldine Stewart, of Cuillins Avenue, says her daughter had been on her way to school breakfast club with her big sister Grace, 10, when the accident happened on January 16.

She said: "At the point where they cross, there's now a bus stop there and they built the pavement out.

"There was a car parked in that space and Becca stepped out from behind it.

"When she saw the van she got a fright and instead of moving back she kept going and the van hit her.

"When I got there, she was lying on the ground crying and screaming."

Geraldine said she quickly realised how serious the situation.

She added: "I was saying to Becca, you're going to be okay, everything will be fine.

"But at that point I realised she had a sore leg and her leg was visibly in a V shape.

"It was horrific.

"The two ambulance men were absolutely amazing, they were fantastic with Becca."

Becca was rushed to the Glasgow Children's hospital in an ambulance with a police escort.

Her head and spinal injuries where found to be superficial and she was taken to theatre to have her leg re-set and put into a cast.

Geraldine, who is also mum to Isaac, five, said: "She could not attend school and she was amazingly brave throughout it all."

On reflection, Geraldine feels that Becca is lucky to be alive.

She said: "We definitely got the best of a bad situation.

"Becca is really dainty and cars speed along that road all the time.

"It was 100 per cent not the driver's fault, it was her fault, she stepped out, but it could have been so much worse."

Geraldine says the accident shows the need for a school crossing patroller at Marloch Avenue.

She said: "This is a busy road that primary and now nursery children attending St Francis', use and there's also children on their way to the high schools.

"We've had no crossing patroller in almost a year and even after Becca was knocked down and had her leg broken the council have yet to get it re-maned.

"On the day of Becca's accident, the head of the school's parent council contacted Councillor Chris Curley about it and he got onto the council about it - he's been pushing it.

"We were told that the council was going to review it but nothing has been done."

Geraldine says she now walks her three children to school.

But she added: "It's going to happen again as so many kids cross there twice a day, five days a week.

"Grace is 10 and she should be able to walk safely to school herself.

"We should be giving our kids more independence crossing the road with the school patroller."

Council officials say they 'fully appreciate Ms Stewart’s concerns and recognise that her daughter suffered a traumatic injury'.

A spokesperson added: "But the accident happened outside the school crossing patroller’s normal working hours.

"This means that even if there had been a lollipop man or woman serving Marloch Avenue in Port Glasgow, they would not have been on duty when the accident happened.

“We are having a lot of trouble recruiting school crossing patrollers and this site has been unstaffed for almost a year.

"But, ultimately, it is always a parent’s responsibility to make sure that their child gets to and from school safely, whether or not a school crossing patroller is present.

“Councillor Curley has been in touch with our road safety team and we have increased our road safety education programme at St Francis’.

"We have been emphasising the basic road safety messages which reminds pupils to ‘stop, look and listen’.

“We have also offered additional support to the school through the Junior Road Safety Officer programme which includes an interactive road safety game to promote road safety awareness at home."

The local authority says it ran adverts for school crossing patrollers immediately after the accident involving Becca but the response was 'very poor'.

They added: “We are currently running another advertising campaign and are actively looking for more applications, particularly from people in the upper Port Glasgow area.

"The closing date for applications is 29 September and the job reference on the myjobscotland website is INV02559.”