POP Idol bosses insisted last night that people who could not vote for North-East hopeful Zoe Birkett had got it wrong.

They rejected mounting claims that the show's phone line voting system was shambolic and claimed people in the region did not know how to cast their votes properly.

But last night, 16-year-old Zoe's fans hit back insisting the phone polling system was not working correctly.

Readers of The Northern Echo have continued to call us with their tales of trying unsuccessfully to cast a vote for Zoe, from Darlington.

Ann Morgan, from Darlington said: "Once again on Saturday night, I couldn't get through to vote for Zoe. It's really frustrating.

"I have tried ringing back, repeat dialling, ringing just before the lines close, even ringing as soon as they say the lines are open."

This week, many voters claimed they heard a recorded message telling them voting was over - hours before it actually closed.

One reader, from Bishop Auckland, said: "I rang right in the middle of the voting time and I got the recorded message from Ant and Dec saying voting was over!

"When I rang back it was engaged."

But a spokeswoman for Pop Idol said it was impossible for that message to be played until the lines closed at about 9pm.

She said: "Many people do not use the lines properly. Some start trying to ring before the show has finished or use the wrong number.

"With so many people calling in, we do get a number of people every week complaining but there have been no problems.

"Callers would not have got the message about lines closing until they had - it just could not happen."

Zoe is now in the last six of the competition to find a new UK Pop Idol.

* The Pop Idol TV crew will be filming at Zoe's school, Carmel RC College in Darlington, today. Footage will be shown on Saturday's programme to be screened on ITV1 at 6.20pm.

Read more about Zoe and Pop Idol's at Revolution