THE campaign to save Dorset’s lollipop people will be featured on primetime television tonight amid new hopes the patrols may be saved from the axe.

It comes as people are urged to sign a petition to stop local authorities across the country cutting the school crossing patrol (SCP) service, which is not currently a statutory requirement.

Weymouth mum and school governor Helen Toft who is vigorously leading a campaign to save Dorset’s lollipop people will be featured on BBC1’s popular magazine programme The One Show on BBC1.

The programme, hosted by Matt Baker and Alex Jones, right, will highlight the fight going on up and down the country to protect SCPs who supporters say do an invaluable job keeping children safe. It will have particular emphasis on the efforts of Mrs Toft who set up a campaigning website and led a march to County Hall earlier this year when a 9,000-name petition was presented to council chiefs.

A TV crew visited Weymouth last week to film footage for The One Show just as it emerged Dorset County Council might have to fund most of its SCPs after all because no-one else has the money or is at least prepared to offer financial assistance.

The county council proposed to cut 65 lollipop peoples’ jobs in the wake of spending cuts in a move to save £200,000 but a panel of councillors is now recommending the authority continues to fund patrols who guard sites which meet national criteria because they’re on busy roads.

Mrs Toft has set up an e-petition on the HM Government website which asks ministers to intervene to stop local authorities axing SCPs.

If the petition gets 100,000 signatures the issue could be debated in the House of Commons.

It says: “This is a matter of national road safety and should not be decided by local authority accountants. All evidence shows that removing the service will lead to injuries and deaths to young people.”

Mrs Toft said: “To get 100,000 names does seem scary but The One Show has six million viewers so if only a small percentage of those people signed it we would be there.

“The campaign I started was for Dorset’s lollipop people but this is very much a national issue now affecting councils all over the country.

“I want it debated in Parliament to try and get some sort of change in policy so the next time there’s a round of cuts we don’t have to go through all of this again.”

Among the people supporting the campaign is Laura James of Littlemoor whose children attend St Andrew’s School at Preston.

She said since the opening of the new road at Littlemoor the need for a lollipop person was greater than ever.

She said: “Our SCP has to stop the traffic on one side of the road, gather the pedestrians on to the central island, then stop the flow of traffic from the other half of the road.”

The One Show is at 7pm.