A mother and father were twice fined £480 after taking their children on holiday in term-time when it was significantly cheaper.
Paul and Jessica Benson feel families "should be entitled to take holiday" without being penalised and so took kids Ruby and George to Florida twice during term time.
It cost £3,700 each time, rather than the £12,000 quoted for a trip in August.
But on each occasion, Mr and Mrs Benson were both fined £240, penalties totalling to nearly £1,000 after both breaks, reports Yorkshire Live.
Mr Benson said he was warned before the last trip, in September, it would have a detrimental effect on one of their youngsters’ education.
But the dad, who lives with his family in Redcar, North Yorkshire, said: "It’s not like they are truant students, they might have had a two week holiday and two or three sick days. It’s significantly cheaper to go outside term time. A family of four like us to go to Florida during the summer holidays - we’d never be able to afford it.
"My wife is a hospital theatre nurse who worked during the Covid crisis and they have a massive backlog of operations they are doing at the moment and it is difficult for us to get time off when we can all go together.
"To go in August you can be looking at twelve grand, but then a week or two later in September its £3,700, so you think: ‘Well we’ll take the fine’.
"If you can’t afford to go during the holidays, you are penalised for it, that’s how it makes you feel."
Mr Benson, who works in events and hospitality, confessed he and his wife were in two minds about whether to do the same again after they were warned about their children’s attendance. He added: “Some parents may be on a higher income and be able to afford the inflated prices during the summer holidays.
“But I work hard full-time and my wife works for the NHS so why can’t we have that entitlement to go on a holiday?
“We seem to be one of the few countries in the world that has this system [of fines], it seems unfair, and should be properly approached on a case by case basis.
“If you are taking the mick with poor attendance to start with, maybe you shouldn’t be granted that holiday, but if you are not abusing the system you should be entitled to take a family holiday when you want without being fined.
“It’s a time to bond and for children to learn new life skills.”
Figures show that the amount of fines issued in Redcar and Cleveland alone for school term-time absences fell substantially during the coronavirus pandemic because of virus-related restrictions, in line with other parts of the country. In 2021/22 £12,941 worth of fines were issued in the borough - compared to approximately £57,000 in 2019/20.
