The dad of a 10-year-old girl who died after a collision with a car has been sent a leaflet on how to use a puffin crossing by the local authority, in response to his campaign for improved safety at the site.

Yesmine Moumen died after a collision with a car at the pedestrian crossing on Monkswood Way, Stevenage on December 21, 2010.

Her parents – Toufik and Yvonne – have been campaigning tirelessly to have the speed limit reduced from 40mph to 30mph and to have speed cameras installed, but Herts County Council has so far refused.

Sharon Taylor, county councillor and leader of Stevenage Borough Council, is furious Toufik has been emailed a How to Use a Puffin Crossing leaflet by the county council.

She said: “It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s astounding crassness and they are being very insensitive. I’m just astonished at their lack of consideration.”

Toufik said being sent the leaflet was “patronising and insensitive”.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “We apologise for causing Mr Moumen any distress. The leaflet is produced by the Department for Transport to give useful information on this type of crossing that may help to reduce accidents in future.

“It was sent with good intentions, in response to a suggestion some residents were finding the operation of the crossing confusing.”

It has also been claimed faulty lights at the crossing were reported to the council before the fatal collision.

Toufik said: “A lady told me when I was petitioning near the crossing that she reported the faulty lights to them only two weeks before the accident.

“She told them about the phase being erratic and not consistent, as we have been saying for many years since, but it has fallen on deaf ears.”

In a bid to make the crossing safer, Councillor Taylor paid for kerbside crossing detectors out of her locality budget. But the ‘green men’ at the opposite side of the road have been removed, counting down displays have not been put up as part of the new scheme, and the timing of the lights seems erratic.

Councillor Taylor said: “The equipment installed is not at all what we had been expecting, and seems to make the crossing more dangerous rather than safer. It can only be a matter of time before another accident.”

Toufik added: “We urge the county council to put up speed cameras, reduce the speed limit and fix the sequence that has been faulty for years.”

The county council spokesman said: “We have a record of a report from a member of the public on December 16, 2010. An engineer attended on the same day, checked all the signals and found them to be operating correctly.”