To reiterate what Gwen said, challenging academic judgement is a non-starter, as is (with very rare exceptions) the court system. A first step needs to be the university's internal appeals system. Typically, appeals could be considered on one or more of the following grounds:
- Procedural irregularity
- Bias or possibility of bias in assessment
- Illness or impairment (with medical evidence).

Information gathered from a Subject Access Request can support claims of bias or procedural irregularity.

Once you've exhausted this process, if you're unhappy with the outcome, you can then take your case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIAHE).

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for your helpful and insightful responses. It really has meant so much during this difficult time.

I thought I would give you all an update...the situation has (perhaps unsurprisingly) become even more bizarre. I was told by the school last week that the reports received by the admin office were incomplete. Apparently they had only been sent the examiner's preliminary (individual) reports and an incomplete joint report. As a result of this, I've been told that my result cannot be confirmed until a completed joint report has been received. I was told that I'd have another 3 week wait for this.

I continue to be upset about the situation - am currently in bed with a bad dose of flu...I guess the stress hasn't helped. What's worse now is that the school have put a 5% glimmer of hope in my mind about my result. Maybe they hadn't failed it? Maybe it was only the verdict of one examiner and not the other? Maybe the overall result will change once they have met and discussed things further? All probably futile questions seeing as I spoke to my internal on the phone in tears and told her that I couldn't believe I had failed. Surely if they weren't going to fail me, she would have said something?!

Anyway, I will keep you all updated. I will of course appeal on varying grounds (not academic judgement as I understand) but will be keeping these confidential in case examiners look at this forum...you never know. I am unable to begin the appeal until my result has been confirmed by the board of examiners which, like I said, should be in the next few weeks. And there I was thinking I could finally shift all my focus to my career...sigh.

Thank you all again for your advice :)

Anz07 - very glad to hear from you and that you're as ok (apart from flu) as you possibly could be in the circumstances. I seriously hope at least one head rolls in that admin office over this - that's just unbelievably incompetent.