A mother of five from Helston whose son was nearly knocked down by a car last year is leading a campaign to have a pedestrian crossing added near Nansloe School.

Joanna Morley set up the Bulwark and Albion Road safety campaign about a year ago, after her son Will was playing by the road on his scooter and almost got knocked down by a passing car, with the driver not even stopping.

She said: "I lived here for six years, and in those years I heard a million complaints of near-misses on the roads, how people have been complaining to the council for years, and then my son nearly got hit.

"Just over a year ago I was having a conversation wit my neighbour about the road, people were moaning about it, and I said something should be done.

"A couple of days later, Will was crossing the road to see a friend, and was scooting back up on the edge of the road.

"It came up behind him, too fast, the car whizzed past an inch away from him.

"The car didn't stop, and he came home crying his eyes out.

"I thought 'I'm fed up of listening to this and nobody doing anything about it.'"

She set up the group to campaign for better road safety measures in the neighbourhood, and they have already won a victory by getting Cornwall Council to agree to paint yellow lines on the road, which was funded by Friends of Nansloe School, and the council will also be painting 20mph signs on the road, and have made signage more visible, but Joanna feels there is more that can be done.

Now she is trying to raise funds and to persuade the council to instate a crossing on Bulwark Road, on the approach to the school.

Joanna has been trying to get the support of parents and the Friends of Nansloe School, and has talked to many parents at the school about how the group wants to improve the area.

She is hoping to get surveys out to parents, and said she has also been offered support by Cornwall Councillor Andrew Wallis.

She said: "It costs a ridiculous amount for a crossing. The figure I was given by the council for the last crossing - in Penryn - was £54,000."

Joanna has tried to get money from an Axa scheme to promote road safety, and has said she will be applying to other grant funding bodies, although she said: "I realise it's not going to be an easy task."

She added: "I think it's something that the children deserve."