A briefing sent to councillors in the wake of the 11-plus fiasco blamed the delays on parents arriving late.

The letter was sent by Simon Harrington, student services manager at Medway Council, to all members the day after children took the test.

In the report it states the delays at Rainham School for Girls were due to parents not being able to find the exam hall.

The letter states: "The school's premises staff were asked to clearly display the pre-printed signs directing parents to the sport hall for the Medway Test along the route within the site to ensure that parents were aware of where they needed to be.

"Unfortunately some of the signs were not clearly displayed and therefore parents were uncertain of exactly where they needed to be.

"This meant that a high volume of children and parents arrived at the hall later than the scheduled registration time. This created a bottleneck of children to be registered."

Cllr Vaughan Hewett later had to apologise for wrongly blaming Rainham Girls for the delays at the school.

Sheila Mann, chairman of governors at the school in Derwent Way, came forward to clarify its involvement.

She said the administration and organisation of the test on the day was the sole responsibility of Medway Council.

Parents have always insisted there were no problems finding the exam hall and blamed the delays on there being only two staff members to register 200 pupils.

Mr Harrington's letter to councillors did not raise the issue of the number of staff at the test centre but Cllr Les Wicks, the portfolio holder for children's services, has now admitted there were not enough.

The 11-plus exams over-ran at Rainham Girls by 90 minutes leaving some pupils feeling shaky, upset and sick.

The council has received 90 complaints since the exams on Saturday, September 24.

In a report last week, Cllr Wicks said the possibility of holding the test in pupils' own schools must be "actively pursued" and recommended a consultation with parents should be carried out to find out their views.