Plymouth City Council fined Jason Short ?120 for taking seven-year-old Madeleine on holiday to Turkey in June
A father who was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday, has quit his job to avoid it happening again.
Plymouth City Council fined Jason Short ?120 for taking seven-year-old Madeleine on holiday to Turkey in June, during the only time he was allowed to take off work.
He claims he had explained the situation to teachers at Salisbury Road Primary School in Plymouth and was told not to worry but was later hit with the fine.
He returned home after the break to find he had a letter from the council stating he would be fined for taking Madeleine out of school without permission.
Now the 41-year-old salesman will leave his role at the Vospers car dealership so that he can take his family away during the school holidays.
'It's not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons, I want a family life and my job is not centred around school holidays' he told the Plymouth Herald.
Mr Short is also considering a career change in order to have a better work/life balance.
He said the new role, working with his brother in the property market pays less but will also mean he pay less tax.
He continued to say that if he gets fined for taking his daughter on holiday again, he will 'cause a fuss' by counting the money out in one pound coins and presenting it to the council.
Despite Mr Short discussing their break with teachers, the family found the fine when they returned home from the holiday. The letter stated that they would be fined ?60 for taking Madeleine out of school without permission and this would go up to ?120 if not paid by a certain date.
Previously head teachers could grant permission for families to take children out of school in 'special circumstances', but in September last year this changed to 'exceptional circumstances' (posed by models)
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Mr Short eventually decided to pay the fine to avoid ending up in court as he was worried he would end up with a criminal record which could affect his job prospects.
A Plymouth City Council spokeswoman said: 'Parents should always seek permission from the head teacher to take their children out of school in the term time.
'This applied before September 2013 as well as after, although the new government regulations which came in meant head teachers could no longer grant holidays during term time in "special circumstances", only "exceptional circumstances" which are classed as unavoidable causes such as illness or exclusions.
'As a result we have seen more referrals from schools which resulted in fines.
'We adopted a zero tolerance policy so that there was consistency across the authority and ensured that all our head teachers, schools and governing bodies supported this approach
sourcehttp://www.pakorumo.com/2014/08/father-fined-for-taking-daughter-on.html
A father who was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday, has quit his job to avoid it happening again.
Plymouth City Council fined Jason Short ?120 for taking seven-year-old Madeleine on holiday to Turkey in June, during the only time he was allowed to take off work.
He claims he had explained the situation to teachers at Salisbury Road Primary School in Plymouth and was told not to worry but was later hit with the fine.
He returned home after the break to find he had a letter from the council stating he would be fined for taking Madeleine out of school without permission.
Now the 41-year-old salesman will leave his role at the Vospers car dealership so that he can take his family away during the school holidays.
'It's not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons, I want a family life and my job is not centred around school holidays' he told the Plymouth Herald.
Mr Short is also considering a career change in order to have a better work/life balance.
He said the new role, working with his brother in the property market pays less but will also mean he pay less tax.
He continued to say that if he gets fined for taking his daughter on holiday again, he will 'cause a fuss' by counting the money out in one pound coins and presenting it to the council.
Despite Mr Short discussing their break with teachers, the family found the fine when they returned home from the holiday. The letter stated that they would be fined ?60 for taking Madeleine out of school without permission and this would go up to ?120 if not paid by a certain date.
Previously head teachers could grant permission for families to take children out of school in 'special circumstances', but in September last year this changed to 'exceptional circumstances' (posed by models)
+2
Mr Short eventually decided to pay the fine to avoid ending up in court as he was worried he would end up with a criminal record which could affect his job prospects.
A Plymouth City Council spokeswoman said: 'Parents should always seek permission from the head teacher to take their children out of school in the term time.
'This applied before September 2013 as well as after, although the new government regulations which came in meant head teachers could no longer grant holidays during term time in "special circumstances", only "exceptional circumstances" which are classed as unavoidable causes such as illness or exclusions.
'As a result we have seen more referrals from schools which resulted in fines.
'We adopted a zero tolerance policy so that there was consistency across the authority and ensured that all our head teachers, schools and governing bodies supported this approach
sourcehttp://www.pakorumo.com/2014/08/father-fined-for-taking-daughter-on.html
