NO matter what the rights and wrongs of the case may be, it is intrinsically sad that diabetic East Lancashire pupil Tom White, 15, finds himself banned from future school trips because of his illness, simply because it means he is denied an opportunity that others enjoy and benefit from.

But as legal action, the first of its kind against a school, is pursued on his behalf by the new Disability Rights Commission, the issue is not the sad effect of this decision by Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, but whether it is fair.

In essence, it is a case of staff playing safe - arguably, on Tom's behalf as well as their own. For teachers, backed by headmaster Stuart Holt, will no longer take responsibility for him on foreign trips after he had a blackout on a school skiing trip to Austria in February. There is no doubt that school trips can be a minefield for teachers, burdening them with extra responsibilities, sometimes for as much as 24 hours a day, and the potential of serious repercussions if they fail in their duty.

Yet are they and the school unjustly going too far in covering themselves against such an eventuality, to the extent of unnecessarily discriminating against a person with a medical disability, even it can be argued that, in the process, they are also protecting the sufferer from risk?

It is argued that they are ignoring expert medical opinion - that the kind of severe reaction that Tom had on the skiing holiday could happen to any diabetic on insulin. But, in return, it is contended that, in Tom's case, the attack may have been brought on by him allegedly having irresponsibly drunk a sugary drink earlier, and that they were not prepared to risk having a student on a trip whose behaviour might endanger his health.

It is no easy task to determine when caution goes beyond fair limits and becomes discrimination in such cases. And thorny as this one is, it is perhaps one that does need to be decided by a court. Then, legal benchmarks may be established and the government's existing guidelines on school trip safety can become much more rigid rules - so that teachers and heads know much better where they are in the minefield.