A sex-change pensioner is being bombarded by calls from a school saying her young daughter is skipping classes.

A computer glitch in Blatchington Mill School's automated truancy line has led to Georgina Colchester being rung up to three times a week alerting her to her errant "daughter's" behaviour.

But as a 68-year-old post-op transsexual, Ms Colchester is childless and unable to have children.

Teachers at the school in Hove have apologised and promised to investigate.

The school's truancy alert system registers all students attendance at lessons.

If they do not turn up for classes the system automatically phones their parents to let them know.

Ms Colchester, who lives in Hove, said: "At first it was really amusing and showed that when it comes to dealing with people you just cannot beat the human touch.

"I don't know who this child is but she is nothing to do with me because I have had a full sex change.

"Apart from being too old, I physically cannot have children anyway so I have had a bit of a chuckle about it.

"However, I have been getting two or three calls a week now for months from this automatic system telling me my child is not at school and it is getting a bit annoying.

"There is a recorded message which gives the child's name and asks if the absence is authorised."

The truancy alert scheme was invented by Graham Haslip, from Hove, and already operates in a number of Sussex schools.

Students carry swipe cards and electronically enter themselves onto the the register for each lesson.

The details are logged into the school's computer which automatically dials their parents to let them know if their child is not in.

Ruth King, deputy head of the school in Nevill Avenue, said: "Now there's a thing! Of course we would like to apologise to Ms Colchester for any inconvenience she may have experienced.

"This was a number we had listed for a Year 10 pupil who has since moved house.

"Unfortunately, the family had not informed us their number had changed.

"Now we are aware of what has happened we shall remove Ms Colchester's number from the system and I will phone her to explain what happened."

Other schools operating the automatic truancy system include Hove Park School, Hove, East Brighton College of Media Arts, Brighton, and Boundstone Community College, Lancing.

The Government has allocated an extra £11.25 million for similar electronic registration schemes.