Council bosses have apologised after children and their families turned up for swimming lessons in Keighley only to discover they had been cancelled.

Youngsters arrived at the start of the half-term holiday expecting sessions to be running as normal, but they weren’t taking place due to the Bank Holiday break.

It turned out Saturday’s date had been missed off a list sent out in letters from Bradford Council to parents and carers.

One of the parents affected was Worth Valley councillor, Rebecca Poulsen, the Conservative group spokesman on sport, leisure and environment, who described it as “absolute chaos” at the Keighley pool.

She said: “The staff did their best but this basic error by the council is sloppy and just shouldn’t happen.”

Phil Barker, the council’s assistant director for sport and leisure services, said: “As soon as we found out about the error, we contacted families who had later lessons to tell them not to turn up.

“We apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced, and we are taking steps to prevent the issue from arising again.”