Jon Platt

Isle of Wight father, Jon Platt, rose to national fame in 2015 after refusing to pay school absence fines he’d received from the Isle of Wight council (IWC).

Mr Platt had taken his six year old daughter on holiday during term time and argued – when taken to court by the IWC – that as she had over 93% attendance recorded the decision to take her out of school for a few days was his decision as a parent to take.

Isle of Wight Magistrates threw out the case, saying Mr Platt had no case to answer. The IWC took the case to the High Court for clarification. Mr Platt won again. The Department for Education then ‘requested’ the IWC appeal the decision in the Supreme Court and took over the case.

In April 2017, Supreme Court judges ruled in favour of the appeal and returned the case to the Isle of Wight Magistrates court. They ruled in favour of the IWC and Mr Platt was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,000..

Mr Platt appeared on national TV and was hailed a hero around the country for fighting the local council.