Children are being left to cross busy roads without lollipop men and women because of staff shortages.

Despite recruitment campaigns, Brighton and Hove City Council has 16 of its 29 positions vacant.

This is an increase on last year when 60 per cent of positions were filled.

West Sussex County Council has 147 patrol sites but has 30 positions to fill, the same as a year ago.

The longest-serving lollipop lady in West Sussex is 82-year-old Joan Thomason.

She has been helping children at Balcombe Primary School, in Balcombe, near Haywards Heath, for almost 40 years.

She said: "It's a good job and I've enjoyed it over the years. A lot of the children I remember from when I first started have grown up and have their own children now."

East Sussex County Council must hire another 14 lollipop men or women to reach its quota of 140.

Julia Pilgrim, 48, volunteered as a lollipop lady in 2000 because her son's primary school, St Batholomew's in Ann Street, Brighton, had been unable to recruit one.

She stayed until he went to secondary school in 2003, helping children to cross busy New England Street.

She said: "I'm still very concerned about it. The school hasn't had a lollipop man or woman since I left. It's a hard job to fill because the pay isn't great and it's quite dangerous.

"But I was glad to be there because something dreadful would have happened otherwise."

Headteacher Amanda Healey said the road layout had changed since Mrs Pilgrim had been a lollipop lady but there was still a need for a replacement.

She said: "It would be better if we had one. Many parents are supportive of the idea of walking their children to school."

Martin Northcott, in charge of school crossing patrols for West Sussex, said it was hard to recruit lollipop men and women because the hours were unusual and they had to work outdoors.

He said: "We advertise in various publications and on the council website and we try to keep the issue in the news as much as possible."

He said highway workers were gradually putting traffic calming measures around schools.

Helen Melville, lollipop lady at Punnetts Town Primary School near Heathfield, was a runner-up in a competition to find the nation's favourite lollipop lady this year.

She said: "My two kids go to the school so I had to go there twice a day anyway. I thought I might as well be the lollipop lady.

"The headteacher had been looking for one for 19 years so I decided to do it as a service to the community."