A DAD whose son was hit by a car in his first week of secondary is calling for authorities to make changes to a "dangerous" school bus drop off point.

First year pupil Ben McLaughlin is expected to need several weeks to recover after the road traffic accident on Monday of last week.

The 12-year-old and his pals were crossing Glasgow Road - not far from Bannerman High School - when he was knocked over by a vehicle.

Ben had been dropped off by the school bus on his way home from St Ambrose High School in Coatbridge when he was struck.

Dad Allan said: "Ben made it over the first part of the road on to the traffic island but while crossing the next section of road he was behind the rest of his friends and was hit by the car.

"The pupils are dropped off at the side of the road and then left to make their own way across what is a very busy road at the start of rush hour.

"Bannerman High School is not far along the road and there are measures in place for its pupils.

"Why not for the St Ambrose pupils? It is not safe."

Ben's mum Julieann was waiting nearby to drive him the rest of the way home.

But when her son didn't appear, she went to look for him and saw a crowd gathered around a schoolboy in the road.

Allan said: "It was an awful thing for her to see.

"But I have to say a huge thank you to the pupils who were with Ben at the time.

"They phoned an ambulance and stayed with him, supporting him and keeping him calm.

"We can't thank them enough."

Ben spent four days in the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, for treatment to his injuries.

He has a broken bone and injuries to his face but his parents say the psychological damage of the accident will take longer to heal.

Head teacher of St Ambrose High School, Ellen Douglas, also praised pupils for supporting Ben after the incident.

Last week she told the Evening Times: "We're wishing him a speedy recovery and we'd like to commend our pupils for their swift actions in supporting their fellow pupil after the accident."

Due to historic council boundaries, two Glasgow primary schools are in the catchment area for St Ambrose in North Lanarkshire.

North Lanarkshire children also cross the local authority boundary to attend Bannerman High School, in Baillieston.

This means the councils engage SPT to run the school bus contract to take pupils back and forward to school.

Youngsters are entitled to a bus service if they live more than two miles from their secondaries.

Allan says the area where the pupils are dropped off and picked up is too busy with traffic to be safe.

He also says there can be occasions in the morning when buses are too full to take every pupil and they are forced to wait at the side of the road.

The 43-year-old said: "Even in the morning this is a bad road busy with people going to work.

"The pupils are standing at the side of the road, which is very narrow, and it would be easy for a driver to come off the road and take out 30 pupils at the one time, if anything went wrong.

"By contrast, the Bannerman bus has a safe area to pull into to drop off its pupils.

"There is a crossing patrol for the nearby primary school and it's handy for the Bannerman pupils to use as well.

"The St Ambrose pupils have nothing to help them out."

An SPT spokeswoman said: "SPT runs school bus contracts on behalf of local authorities.

"If there are any safety concerns about any of the stopping points for St Ambrose Secondary School, these would be assessed by the council's roads department."

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: "A full risk assessment of the road will have been carried out as a matter of course – not just for the bus drop off but for the safety of all local residents.

"This is a valuable lesson to us all to be vigilant when crossing roads and for drivers to be aware of all road users.

"We are very sorry to hear about this incident and wish the pupil a full recovery."

A spokeswoman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “We are assisting Police Scotland and SPT with their investigation into the circumstances of the accident, which took place in Baillieston after the pupil had got off the school bus on the way home.

"As this is ongoing, it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.

“Road safety is an important issue for all schools and at St Ambrose we regularly promote pupil safety and highlight road safety as a core part of our curriculum.”

Police Scotland said there have been no arrests as a result of the incident.