Hamble'S Tony Williams is set to hang up his lollipop stick after losing his battle to keep his two trusty dogs with him on crossing patrol.

The two Newfoundland dogs have been regular fixtures at the pelican crossing near Hamble Primary School where the retired Hampshire policeman works on weekdays. Tony has worked on the crossing for nine years.

County council bosses ordered Tony to stop bringing his dogs, Alfie and Lulu or face the sack.

Talks have failed to sway their decision and now Tony has given in his notice.

He told the Daily Echo: "They have given me until Friday to withdraw my notice but that looks as if it will be my last day on patrol."

Hamble-born Tony has always said that if the dogs have to go then he will too. He said: "I would be the happiest man in the world if there were to make a special exception and let me carry on the patrol with my dogs. But I do not think this will happen."

He had hoped that for a tightly knit community such as Hamble there would have been a little bit of leeway from the authorities.

Tony said he will be sad when it comes to giving up his crossing patrol duties. "It is a job that I always loved and I get the chance to meet all the new people that move into the village."

There have been howls of protest from villagers who launched a petition to keep Tony and his canine pals on patrol.

Hundreds of signatures have been gathered for the petition which was today being handed into The Castle at Winchester. Petition organisers Lucy Sullivan, who has two children at Hamble Primary, and Angela Lilly, who has a grandchild at the school, said they were outraged when they heard about the situation.

Villagers have been rallying round to support Tony by signing the petition.

A spokesman for Hampshire County Council said that all school crossing patrol staff were issued with guidelines regarding animals in December last year.

She said: "They could be a distraction to children crossing the road. The fact that he has brought the dogs to school for several years does not have any bearing on the issue.

"Now the environment department is responsible for school crossing patrols we are doing lots of risk assessments and that is one of things that has changed."