Parents fined by the courts for taking children on term-time holidays

A total of 17 parents were summoned to court by Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council after they failed to pay fixed penalty notices following a spate of unauthorised absences.

Nine of those were cases in which children had been taken out of class without the school’s permission for a holiday.

One man who had taken his son out of school told magistrates that hehad recently got married and they had all gone away as a family on honeymoon.

He claimed that when he went to the school to fill out a holiday form for the 11 school days his child would be missing he was told by staff that they wouldn’t authorise it.

He added: “I thought it was a little unfair they would be giving me a fine when we were away on our honeymoon.”

Another dad vented his anger at magistrates after finding himself in court for not paying a fine.

“I am trying to do the right thing by asking the school to negotiate so we can go on holiday but they get back to us just 11 days before the flight, when we filed the request four months earlier.

“We tried to do it the right way and it seems we are being punished now.

“It really makes me angry.”

One mum told the court that she resented being punished for taking her daughter out of school for six days to attend her brother’s wedding abroad.

She said: “It was a one-off for us.”

Eight parents found themselves in court because their children had repeatedly missed school over a sustained period of time, without providing legitimate reasons for their absences.

In total £4,118 worth of fines were handed out by magistrates.

A school can request the local authority to issue a fixed penalty notice of £60, which doubles to £120 if not paid within 21 days, if a child has five consecutive unauthorised days off school.

If that fine is unpaid after 28 days the parents are summoned to court.

Cases prosecuted by the two local education authorities are heard once a month.