Hampstead headteacher says mums in fur coat and no knickers and with bags full of cash try to bribe him for places at independent school

Last month we reported on mums and dads waiting in “Wimbledon-style queues” to sign up their children for places at one of Hampstead’s top independent schools.

But it seems parents are going to even further extremes in the quest to get their kids in to some of the area’s most prestigious primary schools.

Kevin Douglas, headteacher at University College School’s Junior Branch in Holly Hill, Hampstead, revealed just what lengths they will go to at a talk last week.

Speaking to parents at Golders Hill School he admitted that on more than one occasion his office had been visited by mothers carrying handbags stuffed with cash – ready to try to bribe their way into his school.

Once he even had one woman come up to him wearing “a fur coat but no knickers”, he revealed.

Mr Douglas made his tongue-in-cheek comments at the event, where heads from nine independent junior schools tried to woo prospective parents looking to send children to their schools after they leave Golders Hill.

It seems queuing for two hours in the Great British weather with a couple of folding chairs just isn’t enough these days if you want to ensure your child gets into one of NW3’s exclusive schools.