Surrey County Council 'sorry' for porn on special needs website

The website hosts pornographic images and links to adult sites

Shocked parents who logged on to a council website were directed to a porn site instead.

An adult content provider swooped in to snap up the expired domain - which previously hosted information about special needs education.

The address, which was still being displayed on school websites, took users to x-rated images and adult links.

Surrey County Council apologised to those who "inadvertently" accessed it.

The authority said it stopped using the domain name two years ago, but only discovered it was hosting "inappropriate content" last week.

A third party purchased the domain after the council stopped paying for it.

The council said it had "worked to make sure that there are no references to the link on our own website and communications" after being alerted on 7 October

"We have also been communicating with schools and partners to ensure they remove the old domain and that they are using the correct link on their websites," it said.

The council said it was "very sorry for any offence" caused, adding that it had "apologised directly to the small number of people who inadvertently accessed this link and who may have been shocked by its content".

It said that old domains are held for two years before being released for others to purchase.

Several "extra measures" have now been introduced to "prevent a similar situation occurring in the future," it said.