A volunteer lollipop lady working at a primary school has been told to stop by Richmond Council because proper background checks and safety training has not been done.

A parent of a child at St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School in Barnes had been helping children cross Church Road in the mornings and afternoons for four days until it emerged it had not been approved by authorities.

St Osmund’s had not conducted a background check on the parent, which has to be done for any volunteer working with children.

It had not insured her against road accidents either, nor had it provided her with road safety guidance. Only approved lollipop ladies are legally allowed to stop traffic.

A Richmond Council spokesman said: “The safety and wellbeing of all children and young people across the borough is of paramount importance to the council.

“We have strict procedures and policies in place, in line with national guidance, which ensures all staff and volunteers who come into contact with children are safe to do so.

“This applies to anyone who wishes to run a school crossing patrol as these roles require: insurance, road safety guidance as well as safety checks.

“Our highways team must be notified in advance to carry out these statutory checks before a person is put in post.”

The council learned of the volunteer lollipop lady on Tuesday, March 14, and the same day asked her to stop until the relevant procedures had been conducted.

Fiona Lambe, the headteacher of St Osmund’s, said the volunteer would be allowed to wear accompany children across the road in the meantime, and wear a hi-vis jacket.

She will not, however, be allowed to stop the traffic or carry the ‘lollipop stick’.

Mrs Lambe said: “We are hugely appreciative to the parent for volunteering. We hope other parents might be able to share the duty with her going forward, and take turns.

“It would be good if other schools did this, too.

“But we have spoken to the council and she won’t be stopping traffic until she is sanctioned to. Only sanctioned people are allowed to actually stop the traffic.

“She will be helping children cross the road until then, but she won’t have the stick.”

Mrs Lambe explained her school no longer receives funding from the council to employ a lollipop lady, as it did previously.

For the last five years Richmond Council has staffed seven schools in the borough with ‘school crossing patrols’. There are no plans to reduce this service, it said.

A council spokesman said: “It is good to see people volunteering their time to make children safe, particularly during the school run as most London authorities no longer fund school crossing patrols.”