A TOTAL of 97 pupils were stopped in Bolton town centre on the first day of a truancy crackdown.

The number is the highest questioned in one day by police and education officials. Many children were with parents, some of whom could not see a problem in keeping their children off school to go Christmas shopping.

Some parents also argued that absent primary school children could not be classed as truants. Another common excuse was illness. The authenticity of all the reasons given are being checked out.

The sweep, part of a national crackdown, was due to be repeated today in the town centre, and the hit squads will be visiting other areas of Bolton this week.

A two-week blitz in May found 229 youngsters out of school, but this figure is likely to be surpassed in just one week for the current sweep.

Principal education social worker Ian Price said: "The figure is much higher than we've ever pulled in one day, but I am not surprised because we have never run a sweep so close to Christmas."

Police officers and education officials asked more questions about the background of the children than ever before in a bid to provide a comprehensive set of statistics for the Government.

Other excuses for children not being in school included a nine-year-old from Little Hulton who had headlice and was out shopping with her mother and older sister; a family with three young children who were on their way back to the Isle of Wight after a holiday in Bolton; a child who had got up late for school and their mother kept them off for the day; a youngster with sore eyes and a boy who had woken up with a cold, but had recovered enough by lunchtime to go shopping.