THE father of a boy who won a discrimination case after being banned from a school trip today claimed it would change the way children with disabilities were treated forever.

Malcolm White added that the family's "two years of hell" will have been worth it if it prevented other children from being discriminated against.

Tom White, 16, of Slaidburn Road, Waddington, was awarded £3,000 after district judge Gordon Ashton decided Clitheroe Royal Grammar School had discriminated against him under the Disability Discrimination Act and its decision had been "fatally flawed."

After the case, Mr Holt said the school would have to completely review the way it dealt with pupils in the light of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The case was taken up by the Disability Rights Commission in what the organisation claimed was the first disability discrimination case against a school. The court had been told he was prevented from going on a trip to France in 2000 -- which was later cancelled -- because he suffered from diabetes.

Preston County Court heard that headteacher Stuart Holt's decision was made after Tom suffered a hypoglycaemic "black out" on a skiing trip in February 1999.

The school argued that it was Tom's behaviour on the previous trip, and not his disability, that had been the basis for the decision.

But the judge ruled that the school had discriminated against Tom by creating a new policy which meant staff could have pupils removed from future trips if they were unwilling to deal with problems that could occur.

He said: "There was no involvement with Tom in this process. The matters held against him were never put to him for discussion."

Speaking today dad Malcolm said the pressure on the family had been "unbelievable" but hoped a precedent would be set.

The 50-year-old, who has two other children at the school, said: "To put Tom through these past two years as a 14-year-old to a 16-year-old was unbelievable. The school was just being awkward rather than being reasonable when this was so obviously discrimination."

Preston County Court heard that Tom had suffered an attack after failing to check his blood sugar levels for three days while on the skiing trip and staff had said he behaved awkwardly towards them after the attack.

The court was told that after the teacher leading the water sports holiday, a Mrs Ruddock, expressed concern about taking Tom headteacher Mr Holt decided to exclude him from the trip.

Jeremy Hyam, representing the school, asked Tom, who is insulin dependent, if he felt he had acted irresponsibly by not checking his blood sugar levels for three days.

Tom said: "I was just caught up in the holiday. Everyone was having fun and I just wanted to do things with my friends."

Mr Hyam also questioned why Tom had drunk a can of the energy drink Red Bull when it stated on the label it was unsuitable for diabetics. Tom said: "Food labelling for diabetics is bad. I decided to try it to see what it was like and everyone else was drinking it."