A teacher was barred from joining students on a visit to a Roman Catholic sixth-form college because she refused a request to remove her Muslim veil.

She was accompanying two teenage girls on an open day to see if they wanted to study for their A levels at St Mary’s College, in Blackburn. The town is in the constituency of Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, who once said that he preferred Muslim women not to wear veils that covered their faces.

The teacher and students were from the Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School. A spokesman for St Mary’s said that the request was made because veils were against school policy. The two pupils agreed to take off their veils but the teacher declined and left.

Abdul Qureshi, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: “It is a sad event but it has happened and we will try to address it and find out why it happened.”

Kevin McMahon, the Principal of St Mary’s, said that the college had a policy that people entering the site did not have their faces covered.

He said that at the “taster days” for prospective students some visitors arrived wearing veils. When the policy was explained to them, all except one were willing to remove the veil. “This lady, a member of staff at the school, refused and opted to leave the premises. My colleagues offered to arrange transport but this offer was declined.”

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