Amy GrayExam papers from a Lowestoft school that went missing on their way to be marked have been found by Parcelforce, nearly three months later.About 20 teenagers from the combined Lowestoft sixth form did not know the papers had been lost until they opened their results - and were not graded.Amy Gray

Exam papers from a Lowestoft school that went missing on their way to be marked have been found by Parcelforce, nearly three months later.

About 20 teenagers from the combined Lowestoft sixth form did not know the papers had been lost until they opened their results - and were not graded.

The EDP reported last week that the AS level maths students were told that they would either have to re-sit the exam or take an average grade from two other modules.

But students from the town's three high schools yesterday breathed a sigh of relief when they found out that Parcelforce, who had signed for the papers from Kirkley High School in January, had found them and sent them to OCR for marking.

A Parcelforce spokesman said the papers had been found after a further search of a vehicle that had been searched before.

It was particularly important for Ryan Marshall, one of the students who sat the exam on January 11, who would have got a lower grade based on the average.

'Obviously I'm pleased that they've showed up,' said Mr Marshall, who finally received his A grade yesterday after scoring 97pc on the test.

'We should've got our results in early March so it's a long time to wait.'

Mr Marshall said they had all worked hard to revise for the exam, and it had been a stressful month not knowing if the papers would ever show up.

'I was disappointed, angry and gutted because it was a lot of effort. For me and a couple of friends in particular, that was our only paper and we had put all our effort into it. For it to go missing was pretty gutting,' he said.

'It was stressful, not knowing what would happen. It was also stressful for the teachers and parents.'

John Shanahan, deputy head-teacher at Kirkley High, said: 'It would appear that Parcelforce stripped their vehicles to find them and did so.'

Mr Shanahan said the find had ended a time of uncertainty for the students involved, who were now back on an equal footing with their classmates.

'I'm delighted for the students. Its great news and Parcelforce have done the right thing, they did all they could to find the scripts and they managed to do so.'

Sally Hopkins, of Parcelforce Worldwide, said: 'We are pleased that we have now located these papers after a further search and we are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.

'We apologise for the upset and disappointment the pupils have experienced.'