We are in London and four years back did not get offered a place for our son. I had assumed that it was because he was already at an Indi and we have only tried for grammars. We had always known that there is a real problem with state places in our area, and so had expected to have to use within the independent sector.
We got a call in about May saying they might have a place in a school in an other borough some distance away. I might have pushed my right to a place except I heard that a couple of kids at the local state primary were also without places and understand the position only got resolved at the end of the summer term.
People I know phoned around schools in other boroughs, which seemed to work better than simply relying on the local education authority. I know it happened the following year as a friend's son was affected.
Two years later the borough seems to have got a bit smarter, or maybe approach had changed. My daughter was not offered the nearest, though out of borough and high performing school, but instead was allocated one some distance and three buses away, with a dodgy reputation. I asked if we could look around, but this seemed to be a unique request and we were told that she would have to wait until June when all new pupils would be invited. They managed however to send the contract asking my daughter to sign saying she would not bring knives, drugs etc to school.
I do hope things have improved. People were really sick with worry, and the children affected were very upset.