A-levels web site crashes on results day; no one impressed

A certain amount of incredulity is the reaction of many to the news that on the day that hundreds of thousands of anxious A-level students went online to try and find a place at college the official website to help them crashed under load.

The Universities & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) 'Track' website crumbled just minutes after results were posted at 8am and was taken off-line altogether by mid-morning.

A spokesperson told an IT new site that traffic to the Track site was four times heavier per second than last year and that to return to full service it had had to be taken down temporarily.

Students are being advised to use the organisation's phone service instead.

The service said that "full service will be resumed shortly".

"We apologise for any inconvenience. All other UCAS websites, including the

Clearing vacancy service search function are still available. Importantly for applicants, the ability to choose a Clearing place will not be impacted, and this function will open late afternoon as planned," it went on.

The site was back up later but many expect it to continue to suffer from pressure over the course of a day that will be very tense for many young people; given the extra pressure on students to try and find places before next year's fees hike, the crash is prompting lots of angry Twitter traffic from disgruntled teens.

There have been just over 673,000 applications for undergraduate places in the UK but there will be around 200,000 less places available. UCAS says 384,649 people had already been accepted on to university courses for this year and a total of 185,000 were eligible for clearing, where students who did not get the grades they needed can apply for places not yet filled.

Technology experts expressed amazement that no planning had gone in to prepare for a contingency like extra traffic on such a key day.

"In this day and age, there's no reason why increased traffic should cause a website to crash. For it to happen to UCAS on results day is inexcusable and has added more stress to what is already a tough day for prospective University students," pointed out Michael Allen, director of application performance management solutions at supplier Compuware.

"Every year, we know students will be rushing to the website on A-Level results day and UCAS should be in a great position in that it knows exactly how many students have applied for University and should therefore be in a good position to predict website traffic."