Term time holiday court fine help please?

sourcrates

oldbigead wrote: »

Went on a term time holiday in January this year ,we have two girls in high school;who we'd got permission from the headmaster to take out of school,however the primary head refused.

I would certainly make mention of this in court, judge has the power to cancel/reduce fines if unfairly issued.

Mojisola

oldbigead wrote: »

Went on a term time holiday in January this year ,we have two girls in high school;who we'd got permission from the headmaster to take out of school,however the primary head refused.

So we went anyway,we cant afford any kind of holiday apart from this (5 days in a Uk holiday park in Jan ha-ha

sourcrates wrote: »

I would certainly make mention of this in court, judge has the power to cancel/reduce fines if unfairly issued.

But it wasn't.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-25733272

McKneff

So all in all, it would have been cheaper in the long run to have just taken the holiday in the usual school holiday,


and none of this hassle afterwards for you.

CKhalvashi

Mojisola wrote: »

Because that's the way the law is written.

A separated parent who has no control over what the other parent does could also be fined if the children were taken away on holiday.

However it would be unlikely, although I agree it could happen.

blisteringblue

They had the boss of the big holiday companies "justifying" why holidays are so expensive in school holidays. Jokers the lot of them.

I really feel for you here, can understand it if the kids are 2 weeks away from their GCSE's put there is no issue taking primary kids out for the sake of a couple of weeks. Your head sounds like a proper "jobsworth". You shouldn't have to ask anyway, you should just tell them you are doing it.

Personally I would fight it all the way to court, not sure how you go about it and if you will end up with bigger fines but I just would.

Roll on my retirement to France, this country is just becoming a complete joke. Fined for going on holiday, makes my blood boil.

WestonDave

If you'd gone for 4 days you'd have been OK but its the 10 sessions that is the trigger point and as you've hit that there is very little that you can do other than plead guilty and hope for leniency and payment by instalments. (I'm assuming here you have 4 kids - 2 had permission, 2 didn't hence the 2 that didn't clocked a fine per parent hence 2 x 2 leading to 4 fines).


Not a lot you can do I'm afraid as the law is very clear - you might get a sympathetic judge if you go in person but the risk is also that if you insist on pushing it to a court hearing you could get court costs added on top of the fines whereas pleading guilty by post should remove that risk.

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Ugh. Very sorry to hear of your situation. Hope that the judge is more sympathetic than the head. I absolutely abhor this new system of fines. Holidays are a VERY important part of childhood - spending time with family is much more important to development than missing a week of primary school. As a kid I had 2 weeks out of school every year for a holiday. Didn't impact my education one bit. When I have kids I would not think twice about taking them out of school. I think it's very wrong that the government think they can take that right away from parents.

Not many people can afford to go on holiday out of term time thanks to ridiculous prices. Plus there's other factors too - e.g. families who like to go abroad; perhaps it's too hot in the summer months?

Anyway. My rant will not help. Just makes my blood boil. OP, I hope you get a positive outcome.

harrys_dad

The law is the issue here, not the schools. What is surprising to me is that you got permission for the older two, not sure on what grounds. Did you ask for permission before booking? If not, well it is hard to be sympathetic to be honest.

bargainbetty

Attend the court, and explain your situation regarding the holiday, and your inability to pay the fine in the first place. Ask very politely if the original fine could be either removed or kept at that level.

Provide details of your income and expenditure, and you can apply for a payment plan to settle the fine in installments. Stick to it, because failing to pay the fine at that point will cause things to get very messy.

Good luck.

stevemLS

Railing against the law does the OP no good - it is what it is.

It will be magistrates that deal with it, not a judge.

They have the power to commit to prison in the event of wilful failure to pay.

As the more helpful posters have said, turn up with details of income etc, the court will permit payment by instalments based on ability to pay.

The principle is that the level of instalment should be sufficient to amount to punishment but not so high as to leave the offender without means to live.