Diabetic pupil wins £3,000 for missed trip

A diabetic pupil won a landmark legal victory yesterday after being excluded from a school trip.

Tom White, 16, a pupil at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, was awarded £3,000 damages by a judge at Preston County Court. District Judge Gordon Ashton ruled that the decision to ban him from the trip was "fatally flawed" under the Disability Discrimination Act.

The court heard that Tom, then aged 14, had planned to go on a school trip to France in July 2000 that involved canoeing and windsurfing.

After paying a £40 deposit, he went on another school trip skiing in Austria, where he had a hypoglycaemic attack. On his return, his deposit was given back and his name taken off the list for the trip to France.

Martin Kurrein, for the prosecution, said neither Tom nor his father, Malcolm, had been given the chance to argue against the decision.

Jeremy Hyam, for the school, said Tom had acted irresponsibly while on the skiing trip and had lost the trust of the school by increasing the health risk to himself.