GREAT Moor Infants school has been forced to close three times in one week, giving no notice to seething parents.

Many had no option but to take three days off work after being turned away from the school gates, having had no warning that it was likely to close again.

The Southwood Road school had been suffering from a recurring electrical fault that forced it to close on Friday December 5, the following Monday and the next Friday as well.

It had also closed on two other occasions earlier in the term, for the same reason.

Parents described the situation as farcical, while Stockport MP Ann Coffey said she would be ‘incandescent with rage’ if she had a child at the school.

Neil Thompson, from Offerton, fumed: "This is the fifth day this term the school has been shut and it is totally unacceptable. I have two children at the primary school. Admittedly the problem appears to lie with the power providers and not directly with the school but this does not affect my frustration. In these hard economic times it is unfair on parents and puts many under pressure from equally frustrated employers."

Another parent, from Great Moor, said: "It’s getting beyond a joke - I work and I am on the verge of redundancy as it is."

Ann Coffey MP said that parents should have been made aware that the fault was recurrent and likely to cause problems again.

"This is unacceptable and if I was a parent I would be incandescent with rage," she said.

"They should have thought of a way of letting the parents know that this was a problem and that they might have had to shut the school at short notice. Then they would know it was a possibility and could have made back-up arrangements. But you can’t make back-up arrangements at 9am."

Parent Michele Hart, who has started a Facebook campaign called Stop The Closures At Great Moor Infants School, said: "I am just incensed. The least people can do is keep us informed. All I want is for someone to take ownership of the communication problem here."

A spokesman for Stockport council said: "Electrical problems affecting Great Moor Infant and Junior Schools resulted in several closures in recent weeks. This was not a fault under the control of the schools or the local authority. We would like to thank parents for their patience and understanding and apologise for any inconvenience caused.  We fully appreciate the difficulties caused by the short notice given, and are acutely aware of the affect this can have on working parents in particular.  However, the health and safety of pupils and staff are our priority, and the decision to close the schools was not taken lightly.  Over the weekend, United Utilities replaced the cable and connected it to a different network. Both schools re-opened to children and staff on Monday.  Information was sent to local radio stations on Sunday, and the council website was updated on Monday morning."

A United Utilities spokesman said: "We are very sorry that the school has experienced disruption to its electricity supply. The problems were caused by a recurring fault on a length of electricity cable supplying the school. We replaced a large section of cable on Friday, to make sure the fault does not occur again.  We regret the inconvenience, and would like to reassure students and staff that their electricity supply is now working normally. This was an isolated fault, and other properties in the area were not affected."