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* Staff unable to make it to work because of the fuel crisis were threatened with the loss of annual leave this week, write Claire Sanders and Tony Tysome.

Staff at St Martin's College in Ambleside, part of Lancaster 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, were told that they would be expected to record non-attendance as annual leave.

Elsewhere, open days, conferences and deliveries were hit. Bristol 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's free bus service, run with the health services, had to be suspended. The Association of Colleges was inundated with calls from heads worried that fuel shortages would force them to close.

Gwen Parsons, vice-principal of Wolverhampton College, said colleges should have been included in the government's emergency measures, along with schools. "Disruption to enrolment and induction can affect the rest of the year," she said.

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