A young child was struck by a car at an Inverness school where there was no lollipop patroller on duty.
Councillor Richard Laird last night expressed concern that there was no replacement put in place for the crossing patroller who was absent from work at the city’s Merkinch Primary at the time of the incident.
Mr Laird also voiced fears for other schools across the region if they were unable to recruit patrollers.
He said: “If this happens on a day a lollipop person is off, then the worry is it will happen more often when the budget cuts come into force, putting more pressure on staffing.
“Lollipop patrollers are there for a reason – to protect the children when crossing busy roads.
“This could potentially have been more serious, perhaps even life-threatening.”
He added: “It was the council administration – supported by the Tories – who passed this misguided budget through and they, and the children of the Highlands, will have to pay the consequences.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm there has been an accident in which one of our pupils was injured crossing Thornbush Road.
“Our thoughts are with the child and family at this time and the head teacher has been offering support.
“There have been no cuts to school patrollers, but unfortunately on this occasion, the crossing controller is absent from work and we have been working tirelessly on trying to find a replacement.
“We encourage parents to support getting their children to and from school safely.”
A Police Scotland spokesman added: “Police were called to a road traffic collision involving a child pedestrian and a car on Thornbush Road at 3.14pm on Thursday, March 16.
“The child was taken to Raigmore Hospital for treatment to non-life threatening injuries.”
In 2016 “parent power” was required to keep a crossing patroller at a Rosshire priamary school when the existing lollipop lady retired.
After pressure from parents of Ben Wyvis Primary at Conon Bridge, council chiefs promised to recruit lolliop staff to replace those who retire.