A SPOTTY nose and a dead hamster were just two of the weird and wonderful excuses used by pupils for not attending school.

A national sweep on truancy was held in the first two weeks of May and in Bury alone a total of 456 schoolchildren were stopped and questioned in the largest crackdown the town has ever seen.

In Greater Manchester as a whole, more than 2,500 pupils were stopped and around half were with a parent.

Among the excuses given for missing school were:

I've got a spot on my nose.

I don't like Mondays.

My hamster died and I need to buy a new one.

It's my birthday.

One mother who was stopped even said she did not have time to discuss why her child was not in school because she needed to buy a new pair of jeans!

Last year 3,250 pupils in Bury took some unauthorised absence, totalling 19,800 school days.

Education minister Stephen Twigg said: "If children are not attending school then they are not learning and that has very serious implications.

"By missing out on school they are limiting their potential and putting themselves at risk of drifting into crime and drug and alcohol misuse."