THE explanation given by Bolton College chiefs about the £1.5 million claimed for students they did not have for some years is just not good enough.

We accept that governors at the college admit they made mistakes but their reason for it "a genuine mistake in their record collecting procedures" needs some amplification.

Is nobody going to be held to account for this situation? In private business auditors would surely have discovered the error earlier and those responsible would at the very least have been hauled over the coals.

Let's face it, this was not a one-off error. The over-claiming went on over about four years - the trade unions claim five years - and resulted in the college being overpaid by the national central funding body.

We find it hard to accept that the fact that the college is preparing to pay back the money is unconnected with the axing of 40 jobs.

Certainly trade union leaders believe their members are being made to pay the price of the "incompetence and intransigence" which they say led to the fiasco.

Chairman of the governors, Cllr Cliff Morris, has denied the job losses have anything to do with the impending first instalment of the repayment. But it seems like a remarkable coincidence - or just terrible timing - that they have been announced at this time.

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