Retired lollipop lady, 87, died on road she had spent decades fighting to make safer
18 December 2022, 20:04
A former lollipop lady was hit and killed by a van on a road she had campaigned to make safer for local schoolchildren.
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Irene Allen, 87, was run over on Walmersley Road, Bury last Wednesday (December 6).
She died in Salford Royal hospital five days later.
Ms Allen became Bury's first lollipop lady in the 1960s and lobbied local politicians to improve road safety on the busy Walmersley Road, her daughter said.
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Melanie Allen said: "Irene lost the fight for her life on Sunday 11th December. Despite the best efforts of Salford Royal Rescue and ICU teams, Irene never fully regained consciousness.
"Always putting others before herself, in the mid 1960s, Irene complained to Bury Council about the lack of safe crossings for school children across the busy Walmersley Road, and became the newsworthy first lollipop lady in Bury.
“This tragic irony sits with us today.”
Irene Allen is survived by one daughter and three children.
Daughter Melanie added that she is also mourned by "a whole community who miss her sunny personality."
Greater Manchester Police haven't yet tracked down the van driver.
They are asking anyone who may have footage from the area in the moments before the collision to come forward.
