Term-time holiday ban breaches human rights, says father

A Brighton father claims his human rights were violated when he was fined for taking his sons out of class during term time for a family trip.

Noah Myers and his wife were fined £60 each after they took their two boys to Poland to see their cousin Maddy Myers take part in a weightlifting competition.

Parents are banned from taking their children on breaks outside the traditional school holidays unless there are "exceptional circumstances".

Brighton and Hove City Council, which imposed the fine, said it was simply following national regulations.

Mr Myers told the BBC the trip had no detrimental effect on the boys' education and he has now written to the school to give them notice of an action for judicial review against the governors.

"The government introduced stricter guidelines recently regarding authorisation of pupil absence, making it clear that it should only be granted in exceptional circumstances," said Pinaki Ghoshal, executive director of children's services.

"Schools make decisions about absence based on these guidelines. The council administers fixed penalty fines based on the school's classification of the absence."