BOLTON'S top private school is under fire after 40 visiting German students were allegedly caught trekking across countryside close to farms in the grip of the foot and mouth crisis.

Locals were left amazed when they saw a coach carrying the students heading up a rural track in Horwich.

They were astounded when the party of youngsters, visiting Bolton as part of an exchange visit organised by Bolton School, prepared to walk past farmland excluded to the public as a result of the disease crisis.

However, Bolton School headmaster Alan Wright denied that the students, from Bonn, walked across open countryside.

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Mr Wright said: "It was the first day of their visit to Bolton and we were taking them to various places in the area.

"As part of the visit we were taking them to Horwich. They were dropped off at Georges Lane and would have walked down Fox Holes Road. There are no restrictions. We checked all this over the weekend. The students didn't go on any pathways. They were on Tarmac."

But outraged resident Stuart Organ was so incensed, he tackled the Bolton School languages teacher, Richard Catterall, outside a Horwich pig farm off Georges Lane.

Mr Organ said: "I got a phone call saying that this coach was headed up Georges Lane full of students.

"I couldn't believe it. I went out straight away and demanded to speak to the party leader. The teacher didn't seem to be aware of the foot and mouth crisis at all.

"He had already walked past the pig farm and had planned to meet up with the coach by walking through the countryside reaching the other side of Horwich.

"It was ridiculous. The other students were quite happy not to go but the teacher seemed to think that his journey would still be OK.

"I was insistent and, after a while, the teacher seemed to turn back to Chorley Old Road."

The country lane is usually packed at the weekends with joggers, cyclists and walkers trekking across the picturesque Horwich countryside, close to Rivington Pike.

Mr Organ said: "It's very quiet here now. Everyone else seems to be very responsible. It's just a matter of common sense.

"These are agricultural roads and there are farms either side of this road . I was so incensed. I really couldn't believe my eyes."

But Mr Wright added: "These claims are exaggerated."