A PEEVED schoolboy was left feeling like Cinderella after being told he couldn't go to the prom ball - hours before he was about to put on his gladrags.

Michael Braniff, 16, sat at home in Runcorn watching the telly on Friday night while his mates enjoyed a lavish celebration.

His furious dad, Alan, who splashed out £150 hiring him a dinner suit, limo and buying new shoes and a ticket, is now threatening to sue Frodsham Science and Technology College.

"He was really gutted," said Alan, of Sutton Park. "He was really looking forward to it. They should have had the common decency to write to us and let us know and then we wouldn't have gone to all that expense."

Michael, he said, had been excluded after a lunchtime incident two weeks ago when a football kicked by his mates landed in a resident's garden and he asked teachers when he could have his ball back.

"Michael was not abusive, he was a little bit stubborn," he said.

Michael later apologised and thought he had won a reprieve.

Acting head teacher Anna Cooper, said: "He was excluded from school for his open defiance and rudeness to several members of staff."

Warnings on all correspondence inviting pupils to the celebration ball, she said, stressed that misconduct would not be tolerated.

"It is made very very clear that if they misbehave, they can't go," said Mrs Cooper. "If they receive a red card, they forfeit the right to attend the ball.

"This particular boy and other members of the football team also behaved absolutely appallingly last October. I allowed them all another chance but he is the only boy who misbehaved again.

"He has not been a model pupil in his time with us. I do feel this boy had plenty of warning about his behaviour."

The £30 ticket fee has been reimbursed but, she added: "We can't be responsible for anything they choose to spend over and above that."

Mr Braniff, said: "I am taking legal advice. I don't want £30, that's an insult. They require formal dress for this ball, I'm £150 out of pocket."