VOTERS were turned away from polling stations in Sheffield Hallam, where Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was standing.

A number of voters, mainly students, were turned away after attempting to vote shortly before the 10pm deadline because they did not have polling cards, a Sheffield City Council source said.

John Mothersole, returning officer for Sheffield, apologised to residents who were unable to vote.

He said: "We got this wrong and I would like to apologise.

"We were faced with a difficult situation with the numbers of people, and a large amount of students turning up to vote without polling cards.

"This made the administration process of ensuring the correct person was given a ballot paper much longer.

"The only remedy, which we could not take, was to extend the voting times.’’