Tom Sullivan
wakeupfromyourslumber.com
January 15, 2014

Stewart Sutherland and his wife Natasha both admitted three counts of failing to ensure their children attended school for six days in September last year after taking them out of classes to enjoy their first family holiday together in five years.

They were also handed a £63 victim surcharge after telling magistrates work commitments had prevented them taking the holiday during the official summer break.

Speaking after the case at Telford Magistrates’ Court in Shropshire, Mr Sutherland described newly-tightened regulations governing pupils’ absence for holidays as a farce.

The 39-year-old, who works as a Ministry of Defence guard, told reporters: ‘The only thing they’ve taken into consideration is that I pleaded guilty, apart from that they didn’t listen.

‘The system stinks. The price of a holiday never came into it. I could not get any time off work for that period of time and the people who make these laws don’t live in the real world. They’ve never been put in the situation where they’ve got young children, trying to bring up a family, and they’re not shift workers.

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