A STUDENT who was chauffeured to college on a 57-seater bus by himself has failed his course.

Thousands of pounds of European cash was spent on transporting Ismail Patel from Blackburn to Ormskirk for the two-year course in union studies.

But the 55-year-old is claiming the bizarre exercise was not a waste of time and he is now thinking of retaking the MA in European studies.

Ismail, from London Road, Brookhouse, was ferried to Edge Hill College in his own bus once a week at a cost of £60.

The bus was forced to wait five hours outside the college for Mr Patel, who is a car driver.

But college bosses decided to drop the plan when it was featured in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

A taxi was then used to transport Mr Ismail on the 80-mile round trip for the saving of just £5 a week.

More than £1,500 of funds from Brussels was spent on making sure Mr Patel completed his course.

But Mr Patel, who recently passed a course in Gujerati at Preston with flying colours, is happy he completed the course.

The student, who failed to become an Independent Labour councillor in Blackburn earlier this year, said: "I found out I had failed two weeks ago and, yes, I am disappointed.

"It is a shame that I failed but it was still a good experience for me. I learnt a lot of new things during my time at college.

"I came away with a lot more knowledge than when I first started the course."

He added: "I am still not sure what I am going to do now but I am still thinking about whether to take the course again. It is still too early to say what I will do next."

A spokesman for Edge Hill College said: "It is not our policy to comment on any of our students' results, we consider it inappropriate."

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