Unreachable offer from uni, any ideas?

Hi, basically as the above says really. I am a mature student and have applied to study Biomedical science.
I recieved an offer which would be okay if it werent for the fact they require me to get a C in GCSE English, which I dont have (only ever managed a D) I am not studying it, and made no mention in my application of doing so.
I realise that it is competitive for all courses atm and it is actually my only offer so I would like to accept it, but have no idea what to do apart from contact the uni which I have tried to do but no luck yet, so does anyone have any other ideas?

I was lead to believe GCSEs especially will more likely be glossed over and yet it wasn't.

Your best bet is to see if you can get a late entry as a private candidate somewhere- its worth asking if they would accept Key Skills Level 2 instead as that would avoid the hassle of coursework at this late stage, and find somewhere you can take it. If you can't take it this year you'll probally find you have to take a gap year and reapply next year when you can retake it.
They asked you to get that as its a standard requirement of all universities. someone else on here asked a uni (De Montfort) if they would accept him without the GCSE or equivalent and they said they had never accepted anyone who hadn't achieved Level 2 (GCSE standard) in English.

Maybe I havent made myself clear, but I will be a mature student, I would have no problem sitting an English GCSE if there were any to be sat at this time, only fast track I can find take 6 months, and started January.
I am absolutely capable of doing a degree, just didnt enjoy school at all for various reasons and for some reason cant seem to pass English, but recently have become more focused. I have been before, (studying a different topic) but had to pull out unfortunately for something that was entirely unrelated, despite doing extremely well in all units I took.

I will meet the points tariff unless something utterly disastrous happens, guess I am just annoyed that being a mature student I was lead to believe GCSEs especially will more likely be glossed over and yet it wasn't.

A friend of mine had to have a C in GCSE maths for college but failed it, so they allowed him to take it alongside his A-Levels. I doubt it is, but does anyone know if this is possible at university?

No, if you need the C for university, you have to have achieved it by the 31st of August in the cycle you have applied. I.e. if you wanted to start uni this September, you would have to fulfill all requirements, including Maths GCSE Grade C by August 31st 2010.