A PUPIL who is feeling the strain from carrying heavy bags around Okehampton College has started up a petition to get lockers.

Fourteen-year-old Leanne Jones has so far collected 60 signatures and aims to target the whole school. She said even some teachers had signed the petition.

Leanne is ready to take her petition to the headteacher, Devon County Council, the local MP and Downing Street if she has to.

The campaign to see lockers installed at Okehampton College was started by town councillor Hyder Pirwany, who has already received numerous support from parents.

It is his fear, which has been reiterated by parents, that the strenuous activity of carrying heavy bags around school all day will lead to back problems in later life.

Headteacher Philip Herriman has supported the idea for lockers but says a lack of funds is currently preventing it from becoming a reality.

Leanne, a year 10 pupil, said her bag weighed one stone on an average day but sometimes she also had a PE kit and additional books.

'I've had to balance the weight on both shoulders because I was getting a dent in one shoulder,' she said. 'As you get older the more books you have.'

Leanne's mum Debbie is fully behind her daughter's efforts and is trying to get parents to sign the petition.

'I have two children at the college and I hear daily moans about dragging bags around and the biggest moan is about the weight,' she said. 'It's about time we all pulled together, students and parents alike, and made a stand.'

She is urging people to write to West Devon MP John Burnett or the Local Education Authority.

Mr Herriman said the subject of lockers was raised every year but it always came back to the same problem — money.

'I would love to do something about it but it is not as simple as people think. We have an area where we could put lockers but they need to be supervised.'

He said it would cost £12,000 a year to pay someone to monitor the lockers, which the school did not have, but a solution would be if volunteers could do it on a rota system.

'I made an offer to talk to anybody about the issue but so far no-one has come forward,' he said. Mr Herriman said the locker problem was not just specific to Okehampton College — all schools were in the same position.

'If people came forward as volunteers there is a possibility we could do it,' he added.