A POLICE community support officer (PSCO) has been drafted in to help schoolchildren across a street in Romsey hit by a surge in traffic.

This is to cover for a lollipop man who usually stands on the Botley Road crossing but has been taken sick and will not be back until Monday.

Traffic along the road is said to have tripled after the closure of the A27 at Ashfield Bridge.

Hampshire County Council stepped in with the PSCO as concerns mount for the safety of school children crossing the road on the way to Halterworth Primary School and Mountbatten school.

Lorries and larger vans have been barred from the road to ease traffic.

A 6ft 6ins width restriction will be in force until the work to replace the bridge ends in June.

But this will only apply to trucks coming into the town and does not apply to emergency vehicles, dust carts and road maintenance vehicles.