PARENTS at Burnley's DIY school blasted the town's MP for not backing them during a face-to-face meeting. .

Peter Pike refused to give the school his support and said he didn't feel it was the right way forward for the pupils.

His condemnation came just days after Burnley Council leader Stuart Caddy said pupils were "suffering badly".

The DIY school, set up by parents who were angry their children didn't get a place at their chosen high school, has been operating for seven weeks from the Enterprise Centre, in Rossendale Road, Burnley.

It currently has nine pupils, who are being taught by voluntary teachers with the help of parents.

But the group now feels it has nowhere to turn after Lancashire County Council bosses refused to meet them.

The parents begged Mr Pike to join their campaign.

The MP said he is still doing everything in his power to help them, but refused to back the school.

He said: "I am pleased with what I have seen at the school. I am satisfied that the correct work is being carried out but at the end of the day I cannot back this when I do not feel it is the right thing to be doing.

"I would have done things differently. I have been in this position myself when my daughter was refused a place at my first choice of school. I didn't fight that decision and sent her to the next one available."

The parents are adamant that they will not back down from their fight to get the children accepted into Habergham, Ivy Bank or Gawthorpe, which are all within walking distance of their homes.

A spokeswoman for the group said: "Something has got to give. Peter Pike will not back us and we need him on be on our side.

"The council are not doing anything to help our children, they are being treated like guinea pigs and we are not prepared to accept that."

Mr Pike suggested the group put forward a case of maladministration by the county council.

He said: "I have been hinting at this point for sometime but they do have a case in that the county council have not dealt with the problem. Their failure to find a solution to this problem could mean the school has a case to refer to the ombudsmen on the grounds of maladministration."

Mr Pike is now going to write a letter to county education boss Alan Whittaker to try and arrange a meeting between the three parties.

The problem of school places is acute in west Burnley, where increasing numbers of people live but where no extra places have been allocated in the three schools.

Lancashire County Council has already said that the school would be allowed to continue if it met education standards.