TONY Blair yesterday admitted that the Government still does not know the full extent of the A-level exam marking fiasco.

Estimates have suggested that more than 100,000 pupils could have been affected by the problems with the marking of A-level and AS papers.

Asked about the problems during his televised Press conference in Blackpool, Mr Blair said the Government was waiting for a report from Mike Tomlinson, who is heading the inquiry into the exam debacle.

Mr Blair told reporters that he thought some of the figures being bandied about were exaggerated, but he acknowledged that the full extent of the problem had not yet become clear.

Mr Blair said: "As soon we know the full extent of the problem we will know exactly what we can do about it.

"I suspect from the information that Mike Tomlinson has already put out that this is a situation we will be able to deal with. But exactly how we are going to deal with it, I'm afraid we will have to wait until he puts out his report."

Mr Tomlinson, former chief schools inspector who led the inquiry into the fiasco, announced on Wednesday that the grade boundaries for many A and AS-level subjects would be re-examined, and students' results altered accordingly.

It is expected that students will get their new grades by Tuesday, October 15. The re-grading will affect a total of 104 units in subjects at AS and A-level, which means as many as 300,000 grades will be reviewed.

The announcement by Mr Tomlinson about the two-week wait, and the Prime Minister's remarks yesterday that they were still unsure as to the damage caused by the fiasco, has left many students and teachers in the region angry and confused.

Student Raman Sinha, from Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, said he first suspected something was wrong when he scored low marks in his business studies and psychology coursework.

The 18-year-old, who is hoping to join the Navy as a pilot, said: "I was shocked when I scored so low in my coursework and so were my teachers who had seen what I had submitted.

"Some of my friends have missed out on their first and second choices and have gone through clearing."