A college is rooting out students who escaped paying for their courses because of a computer glitch.

Details about who had paid course fees to City College Brighton and Hove were wiped from a computer system a year ago.

Since then, staff in the college's finance department have been sifting through information about more than 10,000 students to discover who has not paid up.

The college has hired a team of administrative assistants who will spend the next four weeks completing the task.

Staff have refused to release details of how much money is outstanding but have said it will not affect the college's course programmes.

College marketing director Judy Parkes said: "The computer error was a temporary glitch which happened during one of the busiest points of the academic year.

"What we are trying to do is catch up with who has and has not paid. We have got paper records but with more than 10,000 students and additional businesses using the college, there is a lot to go through.

"Although individual pupils may have small amounts outstanding, it all mounts up. However, this has not had and will not have any implications for courses or students."

The error only affected details held about pupils attending the college in the academic year 2001 to 2002.

The college, formerly known as Brighton College of Technology, is private and any loss of fees will therefore not affect the city council.