Lollipop men and women first appeared in London in 1953.
Lollipop men and women first appeared in London in 1953.Photo: ALAMY
By Laura Roberts7:30AM GMT 07 Mar 2011
They are officially known as School Crossing Patrols.
The job of a lollipop person is to walk to the middle of the road, at a suitable time, holding up their sign; it is a legal requirement for traffic to stop at this command. Once it is safe to do so, the lollipop man/lady will signal that it is alright to cross. Traffic may only move once the sign has been lowered and it is safe to do so.
Generally speaking, school crossings are manned for approximately 3 hours a day or less; these hours being split between the morning and afternoon. As a result, the work has always appealed more to people who were just seeking to supplement their income such as the retired.
They were introduced to enable policemen, who had previously run crossing patrols, to perform other duties.
The earliest lollipops were red and black rectangles printed with “Stop, Children Crossing”.
The round lollipop was introduced in the 1960s. In 1974 the uniform changed to the familiar yellow coat.
In 2000 a change in the law gave responsibility for patrols to local authorities and removed the legal requirement to provide them.
Britain’s longest-serving lollipop lady was Eunice Robinson who celebrated 40 years of work on a single patrol in 2002. Ms Robinson had planned to take the job only for a few months as a favour to a friend.