FLARED trousers have been banned from a North-East school because the headteacher said they were dangerous.

John Hallworth has sent pupils home from Thornhill School, in Sunderland, for wearing fashionable hipster trousers, which sit low on the waist and flare out from the knee.

Mr Hallworth believes pupils wearing them may trip on stairs and seriously injure themselves.

He has sent a note to all parents reminding them their children should wear straight-legged trousers in future.

Mr Hallworth and the governors said that while boot-cut trousers, which have a slight flare at the ankle, are suitable for school, hipsters are not.

He said: "We had to draw the line somewhere in terms of flares, and that is what we have done.

"If the circumference of a flared trouser is such that it does not cover the pupil's shoe, then we allow it.

"However, hipsters have been decreed inappropriate by the governors because of the bare midriff potential and width of the circumference of the flare.

"These trousers sometimes cover the shoe completely and trail on the floor, which we believe is a safety issue."

Year ten pupil Laura McKellar, 14, has been taken out of classes because of her flared trousers.

Her mother, Pat, 44, said: "I cannot believe how disruptive the school is being to Laura's education, and many other girls' education.

"They claim that the bootleg trousers I bought for Laura will disrupt her education.

"But they do not seem to realise that when they pulled her out of her lesson to stand outside the headmaster's office for nearly an hour, she was missing out on her schooling.