Parents have been banned from attending their children's sports day in an extraordinary measure to protect pupils from child abductors and paedophiles.
More than 270 pupils from four primary schools took part in the event - but there were no spectators because the organisers said they could not prevent 'unsavoury' characters from sneaking onto school grounds for it.
Parents were barred after a risk assessment concluded that Sandy Upper School in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, could not 'guarantee the children's safety' when it hosted the joint athletics day.
Great tradition: The presence of parents is a big boost for children on school sports days, say critics of the ban (file picture)
Disappointed parents have condemned the June 24 spectator ban as 'health and safety gone mad'.
One mother, who did not wish to be named, said: 'I was told that we could not come because there were so many children taking part.
'They said they just cannot estimate how many parents are going to be there, and are worried that they can't stop someone who shouldn't be there from being there.
'But I think it's just health and safety gone mad.'
Mother-of-three Emma Collett, 33, of Biggleswade, has a child at St Andrew's Lower School in the town.
She said: 'I would have taken time off work to support my child. It would have meant a lot to me.
'I'm all for measures to protect the safety of children but lines must be drawn and common sense must prevail.'
Paul Blunt of the East Bedfordshire School Sports Partnership, which ran the event, said the 'ultimate fear' was that a child could be abducted.
He said: 'If we let parents into the school they would have been free to roam the grounds. All unsupervised adults must be kept away from children.
Controversial: Sandy Upper School in Bedfordshire banned parents from the sports day after a risk assessment said it could not guarantee children's safety
'An unsavoury character could have come in and we just can't put the children in the event or the students at the host school at risk like that.
'The ultimate fear is that a child is hurt or abducted, and we must take all measures possible to prevent that.'
Mr Blunt confirmed he had received a complaint from an irate mother but defended his decision.
He added: 'None of the children taking part attend the host school so it would've been really hard to police.
'We did a risk assessment and concluded that we couldn't guarantee the children's safety.
'The number of children involved meant it would have been hard to ensure people were who they claimed to be.'
However, Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said it was 'totally unreasonable' to ban parents from a sports day.
'It's clearly a serious misjudgement. One of the great pleasures of sports day is that their parents can watch them take part,' he said.
'If you followed the thinking of this ban you wouldn't be able to let you child out of the front door.'
The schools that took part in the athletics event are Lawnside Lower School, Dunton Lower School and St Andrews Lower School, all in Biggleswade, and Robert Peel Lower School, in Sandy.
No pupils from host school Sandy Upper took part as this is a secondary school and community sports college.
Telegraph
