A group of students turned up to find their college course had been cancelled despite studying for a year.

Students were dismayed after having their Higher National Certificate (HNC) course in building and construction cancelled.

This is despite them all paying the £160 fee for the year at Northbrook College in Worthing. The group also suffered a roller coaster first year, when they missed three months of tuition.

Janice Gooch, 26, from Worthing, found out the course was cancelled when the class of five turned up for the start of their second year.

The evening course was run on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and attracted students who worked in the day.

Ms Gooch said: "When I phoned the college, they told us to come in the next day to start the second year.

"But when we got there, we were told the course had been cancelled as they had not managed to replace a tutor on long-term sick leave. They offered us a place on the course at Crawley College but that is just not possible.

"I don't finish work until 5.30pm in Shoreham so to get to Crawley for six is just impossible. I know one girl will find it impossible as she lives in Bognor.

"This course has been a disaster from start to finish. They failed to tell us what day the course started last year and then we had only one tutor for two classes."

Fellow student David Ross, 36, said: "I think it's disgusting what has happened to us. We are always the last ones to know. We have already paid our fees for the upcoming year, which I'm sure they will reimburse but what about the year before?

"If you can't get to Crawley College, then that will have been wasted. This is our careers we are talking about. I did this so I could go up in the construction company I am working for.

"In the first year, we missed three months because of staff sickness."

The college's dean of engineering and construction John Hawkley admitted they were not the only class to find their studies were cancelled.

Mr Hawkley said: "At the start of each year, we review our business plan and courses. If we find one is not financially viable we cancel it.

"It is not run like a school as we have to find every penny ourselves and balance our books. This is not the only course we will have had to cancel.

"They will get their fees refunded, that is for sure. They will have been told to contact another college to make arrangements to carry on the course.

"They will be extremely sympathetic to every student's individual needs. In the case of this HNC course, two members of staff were sick for long parts of the year.

"We cannot just find a lecturer at short notice - it is a lot more difficult. The students did suffer a little."

This is not the first time a Sussex college has cancelled a course.

Last year, City College Brighton and Hove cancelled the HNC in engineering five weeks into the course. The students kept turning up each week only to be told there was no tutor to teach them.