BOLTON students became frantic with worry after a blunder by A-level examiners left them without their results this week.

Pupils at Turton High School, Bromley Cross, were shocked to learn there had been a delay in receiving their Media Studies results after the exam scripts had been "overlooked".

A group of 18 teenagers who had sat the exam were left in a state of panic after finding out they would not get that particular result until later in the day.

Many of the students had difficulty convincing universities and colleges to still accept them to start courses in the autumn.

Even when the results finally appeared in the late Thursday afternoon, pupils still had problems as the set of results had not been sent through to the central examining board which academic institutions rely on for confirmation of grades before accepting any students.

The mess was highlighted in a letter sent to the school by the examining board, Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations. It appeared to point to an embarrassing blunder, stating: "During the routine checking procedure which precedes the issue of results, it was discovered that the scripts of the candidates had not been marked due to a shortage of examiners."

The letter added that the papers were eventually marked but were not completed in time for the grades to be included on the results slips.

Director of sixth form Andy Mills said: "It really did create a headache for us and some of the students were in a frantic state.

"The letter from the examining board was unbelievable -- they said there had been a shortage of examiners which is just frightening.

" I mark exams myself and the deadline for marking papers is the middle of July, so the papers should not have been overlooked until the very last minute.

"Fortunately everything was resolved by the end of the day, but the problem still needs highlighting.''

The delay marred an otherwise excellent day for the school which saw nearly 40pc of the 164 students entered for A-level examinations gaining A or B grades.

The average points score was 20 and one student, Jessica Childs, obtained five As and was in the top five in the country for Government and Politics.

She will be going to Cambridge University along with fellow student Scott Corr who achieved four As and a B.