A mother today criticised police truancy patrols after her daughter was wrongly accused of skipping school.

A police officer and social worker called at Susan Jannaway's home to ask why her daughter Kayleigh Clack was absent from Marlborough School, Woodstock.

Kayleigh, 16, was not playing truant -- she was doing work experience at William Fletcher Primary School at Yarnton, teaching children to read and write.

It is the second mistake to affect the family. Three weeks ago, Mrs Jannaway's son David Clack was accused of playing truant when he was at school all day.

Mrs Jannaway, 45, a mother of four, was doing housework when the patrol called at her home in Merton Way, Yarnton, on Monday. She said: "When I opened the front door, there was a policeman and a lady, who said she was an educational social worker. "They asked if I was Kayleigh's mum, and I panicked because I thought something had happened to her. I was afraid she had had an accident.

"She said my daughter was away from school without permission -- so I told her Kayleigh was doing work experience at another school, and would soon be home for lunch."

Mrs Jannaway said Kayleigh had been doing the work experience on Mondays for three months.

The patrols -- known as truancy sweeps -- are a joint initiative between the county council and Thames Valley Police.

Monday's sweep followed the case of Banbury mother, Patricia Amos, who was jailed for 60 days for failing to send her two daughters to school.

Mrs Jannaway accused the council of being too extreme in its pursuit of truants.

She said: "It is not the first time something like this has happened. Three weeks ago, we had a letter from Marlborough School saying that my son David was missing school, when he had been there all day.

"Truancy is a bad thing, but my children go to school and realise how important it is.

"The patrols are over the top, and the authorities need to get their facts right." Kayleigh said: "I felt quite angry and embarrassed. The patrols are a good idea if they catch people playing truant, but not if they are picking people at random."

The headteacher of the Marlborough School, Mr Edward McConnell, blamed the police.

He said he had provided the patrol with lists of children who were absent with good reason, along with a list of pupils suspected of playing truant, but said the patrol had decided to check children from both lists.

He said: "Four children from the authorised absent list were randomly selected and checked up on.

"I have every sympathy with the family. Anyone would be distressed if a police officer knocked on their door. But I cannot accept responsibility for what happened. That is in the hands of the police who carried out the check."

The county council's acting principal education social worker, Sue Aldridge, said: "When we do a sweep we rely on the school to give us the correct information, as this is the exact situation we don't want. "It doesn't help us or the families, and can antagonise people. The patrols have proved to be very effective, but regrettably this does happen, so we need good solid information."

No-one at Thames Valley Police was available for comment.