A FATHER has launched a petition calling for action to prevent a tragic accident in a York road - and spoken out against moves to get rid of blanket 20mph speed limits.

Paul Williams claimed speeding motorists were putting children's lives at risk in his street, Cranbrook Road, off Boroughbridge Road.

He said drivers were hurtling along at 50mph in breach of a 20mph limit, particularly 'boy racers' on an evening, and it was only a matter of time before a youngster was killed or injured if traffic calming measures were not installed by City of York Council.

He said he wanted speed humps or barriers installing, and he had collected 120 signatures in support of his petition.

Mr Williams. who has a five-year-old daughter Ellie, said the authority had argued that the road had not seen any serious accidents in recent times, but a resident had suffered a broken leg in an accident about ten years ago and there had been near-misses more recently.

On one occasion, a car had mounted the pavement and come within a couple of metres of a mother pushing a baby along in a pram.

He said there was a long stretch of straight road followed by a blind bend, which presented the greatest danger to pedestrians.

His comments came as it emerged yesterday that the new Conservative-LibDem administration is reviewing blanket 20mph limits which were introduced across much of the city by the former Labour council.

Mr Williams said he would oppose any removal of the 20mph limit from his street, claiming that if it was raised to 30mph, speeders would drive at 60mph instead of 50mph.

Neil Ferris, Assistant Director for Transport, Highways and Fleet, said the council and North Yorkshire Police had written to Mr Williams advising how they could investigate his speeding concerns through the 95 Alive Partnership approach.

“This approach (which includes the police, the council and fire and rescue) means that we can fully investigate all resident concerns in a consistent and fact led way," he said.

“The investigation includes the examination of accident records, which have been carried out for this location (of which there has been zero casualties for the last six years to 31 May 2015) and also traffic speed surveys, which will be taken in the near future to determine what the actual speeds are and what, if any, action can be taken."

Cllr Ian Gillies, executive member for transport, said all requests for 20 mph limits to be changed would be examined and decided upon individually.