A Sidcup dad who fought for a safe crossing outside of a primary school after a child was knocked down has expressed delight after a pelican crossing was installed.

Last December, Paul Short was prompted to start campaigning to have a zebra crossing which lay between Main Road and Northcote Road, near Longlands Primary School, upgraded to a pelican crossing after a friend of his young son was hit by a vehicle while crossing the street in the week's previous.

After his online petition garnered more than 1,000 signatures, ward councillor for the Longlands area Cllr Andy Dourmoush contacted Mr Short and began investigating the possibility of a pelican crossing being installed between those streets.

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Cllr Andy Dourmoush hopes this new crossing will prevent further incidents

According to Cllr Dourmoush, a few months of deliberation led to Bexley Council officers signing off the proposal with the crossing established last week.

"I worked with the residents, spoke to them, heard their concerns, saw the locality myself and then I contacted senior officers involved and we had a location meeting with Paul.

"We looked at the the process of improving it and the best option we agreed to was to put in a raised zebra crossing.

"This is a prime example of working together as a community," said Cllr Dourmoush.

Speaking upon his success, Paul Short told News Shopper: "I’m very happy that the crossing has been upgraded.

"It was something that really did need to be done before someone was seriously injured or worse and I really appreciate Cllr Dourmoush’s help with getting this through so quickly."