A FORMER parents and teachers representative has hit out at a school which sacked its deputy head after he called a colleague Miss Knickers.

And she insisted that nicknames were part and parcel of the job and were used throughout the region as a "harmless release mechanism."

Christine Walker, a teacher for over 30 years, was the Parents and Teachers' Association chairman at Lammack Primary School, Blackburn, in the 1990s.

She spoke out after the school's former deputy head John Hacking was awarded £43,000 for unfair dismissal.

He was accused of calling female staff by their nicknames, kissing two female teachers on the lips and making racist comments.

But he won a four-year fight to clear his name in a case estimated to have cost £250,000, after a tribunal in Manchester ruled that it was unfair to fire him without warning him over his conduct.

It ruled that the weight of evidence on the kissing allegations, which he denied, was lessened considerably because it took two years for complaints to be made.

And it said the racist allegations, which he also denied, followed a "trawling" operation to find evidence against him.

The case has prompted union bosses to call for Blackburn with Darwen Council to review disciplinary procedures in its schools.

Ms Walker, currently working as a special needs teacher at Beardwood School, Blackburn, has defended the use of friendly name calling within schools.

She said: "Such use of nicknames is nothing more than staffroom banter.

"It is normal in schools for staff to get together and such banter is often a release mechanism.

"Knowing John, if he had been told what he was doing was upsetting then that would have been the end of it.

"It would have been all over in 30 seconds."

And Ms Walker, whose two children went to Lammack Primary School and who was PTA chairman while Mr Hacking was deputy, now wants the governing body to make minutes they made in relation to him public.

She said: "I think the minutes should be available in relation to meetings held about John and staff at the school are allowed to meet with the governors to air their concerns.

"If this is done it might help bring some closure on the case."

Blackburn with Darwen education chiefs have pledged to see what "lessons can be learned" as a result of the case.