A Tyne Tees Television news item with Roderick Griffith transmitted 19th October 1976 reports on runaway Darlington schoolgirl Susan Coates. The report begins with pupils at Darlington Central Comprehensive School on Gladstone Street running around the playground. Standing in the middle of Eastbourne Road in the town reporter Roderick Griffith speaks to camera about the unusual school catchment area of this street. On one side of the road children attend Eastbourne School, while on the...

A Tyne Tees Television news item with Roderick Griffith transmitted 19th October 1976 reports on runaway Darlington schoolgirl Susan Coates. The report begins with pupils at Darlington Central Comprehensive School on Gladstone Street running around the playground. Standing in the middle of Eastbourne Road in the town reporter Roderick Griffith speaks to camera about the unusual school catchment area of this street. On one side of the road children attend Eastbourne School, while on the other pupils attend either Darlington Central or Branksome School’s. It is this splitting up of friends that led schoolgirl Susan Coates to run away. Outside her house an interview takes place with Mrs Coates, Susan’s mother, who reads out the note her daughter left explaining why she had run away. She didn’t want to go back to Darlington Central anymore as she has no friends. Mrs Coates goes onto to describe what she and her husband had done to look for thier daughter. An interview with an unknown ward councillor follows about this tragic situation and how this is the ‘price to pay’ for the re-organisation of school placements in the town. He goes onto say that two borough councillors had tried speaking with Durham County Council Educational Authority about this situation but were refused. Outside Eastbourne School Roderick Griffith reads from a notepad a statement given by Assistant Director of Education Mr Ian Tidd. Susan Coates had been refused admission to the school because it was full, but Susan and her mother had been turning up each day trying to get her daughter into the school. Mr Tidd’s statement went on to say that as thirty other pupils had also been refused admission they could not go back on this decision just because of the Coates' action.