I WAS disgusted when I read in the BEN about the treatment of student Lynette Bowery by the Bolton Institute. 'Institute accused in admin blunder claim'.

I could have forgiven them the repeated errors -- we all make mistakes. But what disgusted me was the comment of an Institute spokesman "we do not discuss the case of individual students with the press." This type of reply given so regularly always reeks of a cover-up.

I appreciate the need for privacy, but surely once a person brings a problem to the attention of the public that right to privacy ceases to exist. The Institute staff are employees of the public, paid by the public to serve the public, who surely have a right to know what went wrong, and why, and what steps have been taken to ensure similar errors are not made in the future.

With the Disclosure of Information Act progressing through Parliament, surely it is time for organisations such as the Institute, and other bodies, to review the policy that uses the excuse "we do not comment on individual cases."

Let us move with the times, the public has the right to know, especially when public bodies are involved.

George K Brown

Barncroft Road

Farnworth