A father has been awarded £250 after his son was refused a school place because he lives too far away - even though other pupils walk past his house to get there.

Tony Redmond, the Local Government Ombudsman, found maladministration by East Sussex County Council had caused injustice to the parent.

The ombudsman said the council should pay the compensation for the uncertainty, anxiety and stress caused to the parent, whose opinions were not properly taken into account in the decision to refuse a place.

The boy's father made a complaint after his application to place his son in the reception class of an Eastbourne district primary school was turned down.

He also felt his views were not subsequently taken into consideration during the appeal.

He said the council had been unreasonable in arguing the family lived 1,797m from the school.

This was more than twice the actual distance from the school because the council only measured by road. He was angry that children, who the council said lived nearer the school, walked past his house every day on a footpath which was surfaced, lit and maintained by the council.

Mr Redmond found the appeal panel had reasonable grounds to be satisfied that published admission arrangements had been properly applied.

However, he was not satisfied there had been proper consideration given during the appeal to the question of whether the admissions authority's decision had been unreasonable.

He said: "The parent's points about the circumstances of his child were not properly taken into account in the panel's decision or that his arguments were properly considered."

He said, therefore, the appeal was not fair and satisfactory and recommended the council paid ex gratia compensation of £250.

He also ruled the council should review and update its advice for appeal panels and parents about infant class appeals.

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said: "We have apologised to the parents for the anxiety and distress caused by pursuing this issue.

"Whilst we accept the recommendations of the report, we do not agree with all of the ombudsman's conclusions.

"However, in the light of this case we will be reviewing our admission arrangements and our guidance to school admissions panels.

"We handle almost 400 admission appeals each year. This is the first time we have had a finding of maladministration for school admissions.

"In fact, there has been no finding of maladministration against the county council at all since 1999."