EDUCATION chiefs in Hampshire are weighing up the impact of a landmark High Court victory by a defiant dad who refused to pay a fine for taking his six-year-old daughter out of school for a family holiday.

The government has pledged to tighten up rules allowing parents to take their children on trips during term time after father Jon Platt won a landmark decision to battle against a £120 fine issued by the Isle of Wight Council for taking his daughter out of school to go to Walt Disney World in Florida.

Now education bosses in Hampshire are considering yesterday’s ruling amid fears that judgement could open the doors for hundreds of similar challenges threatening to derail the strict absence regulations in England’s state schools.

Mr Platt, 44, was summoned to Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court after he failed to pay the original fine of £60, which was then doubled because of his refusal to pay.

But he won his case in October after he successfully argued that Section 444 of the Education Act required parents to ensure their children attended school "regularly", and did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time.

Last night he was celebrating a fresh victory after Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council’s appeal against the ruling, saying he had “no case to answer” because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter – now aged seven – had failed to attend school regularly.

Mark Jackson, appearing for the local authority, had argued that parents "cannot simply take their children out of school to take them on holiday, or for any other unauthorised reason".

Afterwards Councillor Jonathan Bacon, leader of Isle of Wight Council, said that greater clarity was needed on the meaning of the term "regularly" saying that the ruling causes “massive uncertainty” over school and local authority policies across the county and effectively left parents free to take their children out of school for "up to three weeks a year".

He added: "This will clearly have a detrimental effect on the education of those children, the rest of their class and their teachers.”

Daily Echo: Cllr Simon Letts

Southampton City Council leader Simon Letts said the council is considering the ruling and said: “We will have to read in detail the judgement and consult with our local schools before responding formally.

“I have always believed that working in partnership with parents is the best way to drive up standards and have never been in favour of the use of fines save in the case of children with a significant record of non-attendance.”

No-one from Hampshire County Council was available for comment last night.

After the ruling Mr Platt said he was “hugely relieved” and added: “I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents.’’