Dad wins landmark court ruling after refusing to pay fine for taking family out of school for Disney trip

Jon Platt was fined after he took his family on the holiday, which included a visit to Walt Disney World, without permission from his child's school.

He was originally fined £60 by Isle of Wight Council. This was then doubled because of his refusal to pay.

The dispute went before Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court in October when Mr Platt won the case.

But the local authority appealed against the decision at the High Court in London.

On Friday, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not "erred in law" when reaching their decision.

After the ruling, Mr Platt said outside court: "I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents."

The magistrates decided Mr Platt had "no case to answer" because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter - who is now aged seven and can only be referred to as M for legal reasons - had failed to attend school "regularly".

The two High Court judges ruled that the magistrates were entitled to take into account the "wider picture" of the child's attendance record outside of the dates she was absent during the holiday.

The case came as a survey revealed that families face paying more than double the price for a package holiday as soon as school holidays begin.

Earlier, Mr Platt said the case had cost him £13,000, which he described as "money well spent".

Taking his daughter out of school was not about the cost but rather the principle that he should not be criminalised for doing so, he said.

A survey by travel money provider FairFX of package holidays for a family of four at a four-star hotel in Tenerife, Majorca, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve found that prices increase by up to 115% compared with the same trip taken two weeks before schools close for the summer.