A group of students were trapped in a university building last night when they emerged from a late lecture and found themselves locked in.

Staff at Brighton University's Mithras House, off Lewes Road, forgot the 25 students were still there. They switched off the lights, locked up and went home.

The students, on a course about disabilities in sport run by the Sussex Sports Partnership, finished their lecture at 9pm.

They walked out into the hallway to find all the lights off and doors locked.

One student said: "There was no one around. We couldn't get out of the fire exits or the windows."

She added: "We weren't frightened or anything. It just seems amazing they could forget about us."

One of the students found a telephone directory in the foyer containing internal extension numbers.

They managed to contact a security officer for the site who came to let them out.

The student added: "Can you believe they locked us in when there were about 20 cars parked outside?"

A spokesman for the university apologised today and said the students were locked in because there was confusion over the night their class was being held.