Isle of Wight father, Jon Platt, who rose to national fame in 2015 after refusing to pay school absence fines after taking his then-six year old daughter out of school for a family holiday, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fight the Supreme Court appeal by the Isle of Wight council (IWC) and Department for Education (DfE).
Mr Platt has revealed that unless he gathers enough financial support from parents around the country, he may have ‘withdraw from the fight’.
‘David versus Goliath’
Faced with the prospect of a battle against the government in the Supreme Court, Mr Platt said,
“Responding to their [the IW council] June application to appeal that was refused by the High Court cost me over £3,000 and I was not awarded my costs in respect of that part of the fight. I did not seek my costs at Magistrates Court, so I was out £960. My costs dealing with this latest attempt to get permission to appeal could well exceed £5,000.
“Unless I can get the support of parents all over the country, there is a very real possibility that I will have to ‘withdraw from the fight’ and potentially let them win because the ‘costs risks’ are now more than one private individual can afford.”
In less than 24 hours, the appeal has raised over £3,500.
See the Crowdfunding appeal over on Just Giving Website.
DfE to take over the Supreme Court appeal
Back in 2015, Isle of Wight Magistrates said Mr Platt had no case to answer and he subsequently won again when the IWC took the case to the High Court earlier this year.
Upon the explicit ‘request’ of the DfE, the IWC the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Correspondence seen by OnTheWight from the DfE to the IWC reveals the intent for the DfE to take control of the Supreme Court appeal.
The result of which would mean Jon Platt defending his non-payment of fines for school absence (£120) against the Government department, and their lawyers, in the Supreme Court.
Image: © With permission of Solent News Agency
