ANXIOUS parents of school truants have inundated Bolton education chiefs with phone calls because they fear they could be sent to prison.

The calls follow the case of a mother just freed after being jailed for allowing her two daughters to play truant.

Bolton's chief education social worker, Ian Price, has received dozens of calls from local parents anxious that they could be jailed because their children have not been at school.

The exact number of children who truanted from school in Bolton during May is still not known, but Mr Price believes the number of calls to his office suggests the case of Patricia Amos, who served a 28-day sentence, sent shock waves through the town and attendance rates are likely to have improved as a result.

Education Secretary Estelle Morris has signalled that magistrates should continue to jail parents who fail to send their children to school when other solutions have been exhausted.

Mr Price praised Bolton's magistrates for backing his staff by dealing out harsh fines to parents of persistent truants, and is glad that the high profile court case has jolted parents into making more effort.

He said: "The case of Patricia Amos has caught people's interest and I've certainly seen a reaction to what happened to her in Bolton."

Mr Price said he has regularly been phoned since the case by parents asking: "I'm not going to prison, am I?" The answer to the questions is "no" providing the parents immediately send their children back to school.

He added: "We've tightened procedures in Bolton and we can get people into court faster now. People are only sent to prison after going through many stages and having lots of chances to get their children back into school."