A DISTRAUGHT 18-year-old from Accrington fears she may have to put off going to university for a year because she lost her schoolwork on a bus.

Hayley Dixon, of Manchester Road, Accrington, is appealing to anybody who may know the whereabouts of the year's worth of art work she left on a bus between Accrington and Blackburn.

She lost the Batik wallhanging on the 8.10am Blackburn Transport bus which runs from Accrington to Blackburn, on her way to St Mary's College.

The work represents most of her coursework for her Art A level and if she cannot find it she will have to repeat her final year at the college - delaying by 12 months the time she can go to university.

Her mother Carol Steel said: "She has been working on this for a year and when she realised she had lost it she was in tears.

"She has exhausted every possible avenue trying to find it and she is absolutely distraught. The work was stored in an A4 size plastic wallet."

College Principal Mike Finlay said: "We are looking into the situation and how we can avoid Hayley having to repeat her final year.

"She is a very conscientious student and what has happened is unfortunate."

Hayley and Carol can be contacted on 01254 382004 or 07931 829735 if anybody has any information.

Jim Hilton, operations manager at Blackburn Transport, said: "We are checking everywhere although it has to be appreciated that the bus stops and people get on and off and things can get picked up."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.