A mum told how she spent £500 on her daughter's prom only to be told there were not enough tickets. She claimed "loads" of youngsters were turned away from the annual event as a result of the shortage.
She claimed many of these were eligible to attend because they had appropriate attendance and behaviour levels. However she said she did manage to get a ticket for her daughter after spending all day emailing the school, reports Devon Live.
The mum, who asked to remain anonymous, said her daughter had registered an interest to attend the St Peter's Church of England School prom set to take place on Friday. She had gone ahead and bought a dress along with paying for beauty treatments for the key event her youngster was dealt the blow of being turned away.
The mum said the problem arose for her after she missed an email containing the deadline to buy tickets. She said: "They sent out about four emails to register your interest among all the billions of emails they send us every week and then just one email about when to book your tickets.
"I have four kids and work full time and they send me so many emails and it didn't say anything obvious to say it was urgent." But after discovering that she had missed the June 7 deadline she contacted the school only to be told the event was sold out.
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She said her daughter was not the only one to miss out and said she contacted the venue - Exeter Golf and Country Club - where she was told there was space for more youngsters however the school had not authorised it.
"I just can't fathom why you wouldn't have any extra tickets," she said. "They said they turned loads of people away. Kids have to be eligible based on their attendance and overall behaviour. My view was that they would just book it for all of the eligible kids and then work it out from there.
"I know people that work at other schools and they say 'oh, we just booked enough for everybody'. My kid is a model kid, she's never had a detention, she's a really good kid."
The school was able to find a ticket for her daughter following the mum's complaint. She says she accepts that she "screwed up" but is concerned that pupils whose parents may not have been able to pay for the ticket before the deadline may have missed out.
She said: "I'm so frustrated because I had to be a massive pain and basically do someone's job of contacting the venue for them. I know someone at the venue who said they could totally accommodate more but the school has to authorise it. Why should I have to be a jerk and email them from my work email to get anybody's attention?
"I couldn't bear for my daughter to pick up her dress on the weekend, not knowing if she'd be able to go. We got shoes, paid for nails, eyelashes so probably about £500 all in all.
"I accept I screwed up here but with things like school trips if you miss a payment deadline, they always accommodate it so it just seems really odd to me that this is the one thing, arguably more important than anything else in their school career, that they decided not to try and accommodate or have a back-up plan.
"I was also thinking along the lines of parents who maybe couldn't afford to pay for the ticket by the deadline. I couldn't believe they didn't make any allowances for any error. My understanding is that there's quite a few people that they turned away.
A spokesperson for St Peter's Church of England School said: "The PTA have once again done a terrific job in organising our annual Year 11 Prom."
A spokesperson for the school added that they "understand the venue has released a ticket, enabling a child who missed deadlines for purchasing tickets to attend."
