MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition demanding a pedestrian crossing in a busy Crewe street.

Maw Green ward councillors Ken Woolley and Margaret Martin are spearheading the fight to get the crossing and traffic lights installed in North Street.

They collected more than 1,000 names on a petition in three weeks.

They will present the petition to the joint highways and transportation committee at its next meeting toward the end of the year.

The say people living at North Street and surrounding areas have grown tired of trying to cross the road to reach services such as the post office, chemist and North Street Chapel.

Cllr Woolley says the sheer volume of traffic has made it virtually impossible for people both young and old to cross the road safely.

It has been a problem for two years but a big upsurge in the amount of complaints the councillors received from residents prompted the pair to take action.

He said: 'We have had hundreds of complaints about the road. It is an accident waiting to happen. That's why we want something done about it before someone gets hurt.

'We left copies of the petition in shops and some residents also took them to get others to sign it.'

Cllr Woolley blames the increase in traffic on the road being one of the main routes to both Leighton Hospital and the M6 motorway, and the completion of numerous housing schemes in the vicinity.

'Cars, motorcycles and heavy-goods vehicles use the road for the motorway and a nearby tip,' said Cllr Woolley.

'It's busy all the time and gets particularly heavy when people are knocking off work.'

The councillors are confident highways bosses will conduct a traffic survey on the road, once the petition is handed over.