I remember coming into Norwich a couple of years ago - was on short finals in an Arrow with gear down, full flap, and probably at no more than 200ft height.
Another aircraft was at the hold waiting to line up, when ATC mixed up some instructions. Rather than clearing me to land and telling the other aircraft to hold position, he told me to hold position and then said something else to the other aircraft.
Told ATC that I wasn't really sure how he expected me to comply with the "hold position" instruction when at 200ft on short final, and told him I would do an orbit. Took down one stage of flap, left gear gown, applied more power to increase airspeed up to 90mph and did the orbit. I then landed without problem after the orbit when given clearance to land.
I then copped an earful from ATC along the lines of "WTF was that all about?" Prompt argument ensues - he listens to tape playback, and suddenly becomes apologetic.
Moral of story is not lay blame at the door of ATC - we are all human. And if given instructions which are impossible to comply with, or just unsafe, then climb away and / or leave the circuit. If you think you can do something safely, then do it. Problem with this poor student, is that climbing away and leaving the circuit was not an option for him in his limited experience. A very sad story.