A TEENAGER who led a national campaign against bullying in schools has welcomed a mobile phone service that lets bullied children contact their parents in secret.

Joanne Geldart, of Ferryhill in County Durham, has backed the PingAlert scheme, which was launched yesterday at the start of anti-bullying week.

It can be activated by a speed-dial button on the phone and locates the sender's phone to within 500 yards in built-up areas, sending a message to the parent's phone within 60 seconds.

Joanne was bullied at school but won a national award for her work, including a diary and articles in The Northern Echo.

She said anything that helped youngsters tell parents about their problems and helped them feel safer should be welcomed.

She said: "I got a lot of support from my parents, not from the teachers, but my parents helped me a lot. It sounds like a good idea."

Joanne won an Anne Frank Award in 2001 when she was 14, and met Tony Blair at Downing Street after calling upon him to appoint a Children's Commissioner to tackle bullying.

Now aged 18, she has left school and hopes to become a foster carer - but she admitted that despite her efforts to prevent bullying, it remains rife.

She said: "I still get comments from people in the street who I used to go to school with.

"When you get bullied, you feel like nobody likes you and you feel two inches small all the time."

The service can be accessed online and costs the sender's phone 50p per alert.

Michele Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, said: "PingAlert provides a great tool in the war against bullying. Now kids can alert their parents that they're in trouble without having to call or text them."