THREE parents who took their children on holiday during term time have been ordered to pay a total of £1,370 by York magistrates.

None of them answered the summons ordering them to attend court to explain their actions and were convicted in their absence of failure to ensure their children went to school.

Julie Parrish, prosecuting for North Yorkshire Education Authority, said a couple from a village south of Selby took their child out of his infant school class despite being warned by his school they were not allowed to do so.

Magistrates convicted each on one charge and together fined them £220, plus £150 prosecution costs, plus a £60 statutory surcharge.

A Selby mother who took her three children on holiday was fined £220 for each child, plus £150 prosecution costs, plus a £30 statutory surcharge. She was convicted on three charges.

Mrs Parrish said the mother's children attended two different schools and both head teachers warned the mother she couldn't take them on holiday in term time.

Meanwhile in a separate case a mother who doesn’t get her teenage daughter to school was fined and ordered to pay £634.

The woman claimed she couldn’t attend York Magistrates Court because she was suffering from flu.

But magistrates decided to hear the case instead of postponing it because the case had already been adjourned once and the mother didn’t send any medical confirmation of her condition.

The 33-year-old from a village west of York was convicted in her absence of not ensuring her daughter attended school regularly for more than a term. She was fined £440, plus £150 prosecution costs, plus a £44 statutory surcharge.

Mrs Parrish said in this instance staff, social workers and others had made several attempts to get the daughter to school and had worked with the mother over several months.

But the child only attended school for two thirds of the days she should have been at school.

The mother had told staff the daughter stayed up late watching films and she couldn’t get her out of bed in the morning. Mrs Parrish said sometimes the girl stayed at a friend’s house, and then got to school on time.