A THIRD traffic survey will be conducted outside a New Forest primary school after the original results were disputed when a man counting the cars allegedly fell asleep.

Staff and parents at Brockenhurst Primary School say that the official contracted by Hampshire County Council nodded off on the job, as reported in the Daily Echo.

They are waging a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing outside the school, which is situated on a notoriously busy road.

A second incognito survey was subsequently carried out recently but county chiefs say it showed a 57 per cent drop in the number of people crossing compared to the original discredited survey.

They are now planning to hold another survey between 8am-9am to confirm whether a pedestrian crossing is needed.

A Hampshire County Council spokesman said: "A further incognito survey will be carried out shortly to give a more accurate observation of what the pedestrian movement is and a better comparison with previous survey data.

"Until this further survey work is complete we cannot confirm whether a controlled crossing will now be justified."

Leader of Hampshire County Council Councillor Ken Thornber, told a meeting of Brockenhurst Parish Council last Tuesday that an internal investigation had shown that there was, "no circumstance whatsoever in which people can legitimately say that the individual fell asleep on the job".

Despite staff and parents saying that they had to wake the man up, Cllr Thornber said that the machinery used to record the data could not have been entered retrospectively.

The survey was ordered after worried parents collected a 120-signature petition calling for safety improvements near the school gates in Sway Road. An 11-year-old boy was hurt when he was hit by a vehicle outside the school earlier this year.

A working party will now be set up between Brockenhurst Parish Council and the school in a bid to find an acceptable solution. It is believed that plans to reduce a section of the Sway Road outside the school to one lane, could be revived after they were thrown out in 1999.

Head teacher Trudie Bateman told the Daily Echo: "It is a busy road and we want to work with the powers that be to ensure a safer crossing."