NERVE-TORN lollipop patrols are getting the menace of madcap motorists taped.

School crossing staff are being equipped with dictaphones to instantly record information about vehicles ignoring lollipop stop signs.

Redcar and Cleveland Council is issuing pocket-sized recording machines to crossing wardens at road blackspots; becoming the first local authority in Britain to do so.

The first person to try one out will be Trudi Featherstone, who has experienced four fail-to-stops on Thrush Road, Redcar, so far this year while shepherding children from the town's Zetland Primary School across the road.

The move is being welcomed by the council's 76 patrol officers and their supervisor, Sylvia Burton, who literally had a brush with a car which failed to stop. The experience left Ms Burton shaken but unhurt as the impatient driver came so close to her that his car caught her florescent coat.

She said: "The first time it happens is very frightening, you don't expect it and it affects you. While that first one makes you wary, no matter how many times it happens, it is still frightening."

The ground-breaking team have previously had special training on how to cope with speeding and confrontational drivers. They have been equipped with jackets fitted with flashing lights and reflective sticks - yet still some motorists refuse to stop.

Dictaphones are the next desperate step to clamp down on dangerous drivers.

Ms Burton said: "All our lollipop ladies and gentlemen have notebooks and pens in their pockets, but it's a question of getting them out of their pocket, trying to remember the registration number and anything else and writing it down.

"With a dictaphone they can put one hand in their pocket, press 'record' and speak straight into it. The car could still be only feet away from them, and as you can speak quicker than write, they will be able to get everything down."

Mike Hall, the council's road safety officer, said: "These drivers are breaking the law. They are threatening the lives of our officers and children and we want them brought to book.

"There has not been a recent incident where any of our officers could be accused of stepping into the road too quickly. It's driver error every time.