THE mum of a 13-year-old Kelty boy who was struck by a van on Station Road has called for safety measures at the busy junction.

Rhys Morgan was taken by ambulance to hospital after being hit by the vehicle only 10 minutes after saying goodbye to his mum as he left for Beath High School.

He suffered a broken arm which snapped his humerus bone clean in half.

Mum Katy was with his younger sister at the time when she was phoned by her son’s friend, who quickly alerted her to what had happened to the teen.

She told the Press: “We’re hoping he’ll be back to school this week and I have to say that the school have been fantastic in offering support and hall and lift passes to help him when he’s back.”

Katy knows the accident could have been more serious and she is hoping the event will now trigger new safety provisions at the four-way junction.

“He was very lucky that it wasn’t worse,” she said. “He wasn’t wearing headphones or looking at his phone at the time and the gentleman driving the van wasn’t at fault either.

"It was just a really unfortunate incident. It was horrendous receiving the call. It has to be one of the worst calls a mother can receive. It really was horrendous.”

Primary school pupils have had to make their way to St Joseph’s on Cocklaw Street, and Kelty Primary on Main Street, without the assistance of a school crossing patrol officer since August.

Drivers heading to the M90 and Cowdenbeath travel through the junction in the village, which is part of a busy four-way intersection with Oakfield Street and Station Road.

Katy added: “It’s a very busy area and it’s hard to find a safe space to cross where you can actually see past all the cars parked down either side of the road. 

“I cross every day with my daughter and I feel either a speed restriction or a form of crossing – maybe traffic lights – should be put in place so an incident like this doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Lochs councillor Alex Campbell has backed calls from a concerned St Joseph’s parent for the installation of a crossing guard and said: “We have to address this and have someone put in place in the area. We need to work harder.

"It’s obviously a busy enough junction if it warranted a consultation in the first place.”

Fife Council said that they had advertised for the full-time position online via recruitment portal myjobscotland to no avail.

Peter Barrie, lead officer with the council, said: “Parents were notified in September that the School Crossing Patrol Officer (SCPO) at Kelty Cross would be finishing and that there would be no officer in place until we were able to successfully recruit.”

He added that they were advertising once again and encouraged locals to help raise awareness of the vacant post.