A FAMILY has started a £1million campaign to raise money for safety improvements on the stretch of road where their teenage son was killed by a car. Supporters of the campaign can help get the fundraising rolling by buying a blue wristband, inscribed in m

A FAMILY has started a £1million campaign to raise money for safety improvements on the stretch of road where their teenage son was killed by a car.

Supporters of the campaign can help get the fundraising rolling by buying a blue wristband, inscribed in memory of Warren Hay, pictured below.

The 16-year-old, who lived with his family in Robin Terrace, Alconbury, died after stepping in front of a Vauxhall Corsa as he tried to cross the A141 in Huntingdon with a group of friends.

Since Warren's death, his mother, Maxine, has helped to launch the Warren Hay Road Safety Action Group. It is calling on Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) to provide a safe way of crossing the A141, especially for children heading to the football pitches at Jubilee Park in Kings Ripton Road.

Mrs Hay told The Hunts Post: "We need people to buy the wristbands so they feel they have contributed to the building of a successful solution. It's a community-based improvement not a personal crusade.

"It's for the people of Huntingdon and surrounding areas to show their support and solidarity in achieving this goal - it's for their children, their grandchildren and future generations to come."

The blue wristbands, which have 'In memory of Warren' inscribed on them, and are on sale for £1 at The Hunts Post offices in Huntingdon.

Mrs Hay said: "The aim is to sell as many wristbands as it takes to make up the difference in money between what the council is proposing - £160,000 for a blob of concrete - and the ideal solution, a footbridge costing £1.2million."

The safety campaign has already accumulated 12,000 signatures on a petition, and CCC reacted by fast-tracking a review of the road and suggesting some improvements.

But the CCC plan - a ban on right turns into and out of King's Ripton Road and a central island - was said not to go far enough by the campaigners who want a footbridge across the road.

Wristbands are just the first step in the fund-raising task. Mrs Hay, along with John Dunleavy, Simon Lacey, Rolief Leone and Andrea Lines, are all in training for next year's Great North Run and the 2009 London Marathon.

Mrs Hay said: "We are going from strength to strength.

"As a group we are getting tremendous support from the community and wider afield, and I have received some touching letters from people who were in similar circumstances and are encouraging me to fight all the way."

T-shirts with the action group's logo on will be available later this month.

The wristbands are also on sale in Huntingdon at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Wilkinsons, Adams Cook and Pearce, GIA, Union, TAG, Bakers Oven, Peacocks, Subway, Costa, Sports and Fashions, Shoe Express, Kons Cafe, Parsley Pot and Tony's Takeaway; in Brampton at the Co-Op; and in St Ives at the Crusty Loaf.

INFORMATION: To support the campaign, or if you have a fund-raising idea, call John Dunleavy on 01480 350507