A COUPLE have sought legal advice after a tribunal ruled that a local education authority does not have to pay to send their disabled daughter to the school of their choice.

Jayne Croft and Stefan Reay, of Hollowfield, in Chilton, County Durham, say the £21,000 cost of sending their three-year-old daughter to the charitable Percy Hedley Foundation School, in Newcastle, will not be met by Durham County Council.

Instead the couple, have been told that Laura, who cannot walk, talk or sit up on her own, has to attend council-run Villa Real School, in Consett, Derwentside, County Durham.

Ms Croft, 37, a production controller at Thorn Lighting, in Spennymoor, said: "Laura needs conductive education, a method of exercises to improve movement.

"Percy Hedley include this teaching all day and have said that they could get my daughter walking in a couple of years. The school we have been offered provides this teaching, but only in short bursts. It's not enough."

Laura suffers from cerebellar hypoplasia, which causes part of the brain to shrink.

She is still wearing nappies and has a special chair, which acts as a back support so she can sit up and play with her six-year-old brother, Joshua, even though she is unable to talk to him.

At a tribunal, held on March 7, Ms Croft and Mr Reay challenged the local education authority to send her to Percy Hedley, but lost their case because financial resources were not available for the non-maintained charity school.

Following the ruling, the couple say they are refusing to give up and have consulted a solicitor about their next possible move to get Laura into Percy Hedley.

In January, the couple appealed to their local MP and Prime Minister Tony Blair, but say they have yet to receive a response.

Ms Croft said: "We are only concerned about the needs of our daughter."

A spokesman from Durham County Council said: "Villa Real is a special school that caters for children with complex special educational needs and is an appropriate school for Laura.

"The county council has invested heavily in the school so that it can provide a conductive education programme for children that is identical to that provided at Percy Hedley School."