A dad who was fined for taking his daughter out of school for a family holiday has quit his job so he can spend more time with his family.
Jason Short was fined £120 by Plymouth City Council for taking seven-year-old Madeleine on holiday to Turkey in June, during term-time - the only time he was allowed to take off work from his job as a car salesman.
He said he'd explained the situation to teachers at Salisbury Road Primary School in Plymouth and was told not to worry, but was later hit with the fine.
He returned home after the break to find he had a letter from the council stating he was going to be fined for taking Madeleine out of school without permission.
Now Jason, 41, has handed in his notice at Vospers car dealership so that he can take his family away during the school holidays.
He told the Plymouth Herald: "I want a family life and my job is not centred around school holidays."
Jason now plans to work with his brother in the property market, despite the fact it pays less – but it will give him a better work/life balance.
Jason said he'd discussed the June holiday break with teachers but the family found the fine when they returned home from the holiday.
The letter stated that they would be fined £60 for taking Madeleine out of school without permission and this would go up to £120 if not paid by a certain date.
The dad eventually decided to pay the fine to avoid ending up in court as he was worried he would end up with a criminal record which could affect his job prospects.
A Plymouth City Council spokeswoman said: "Parents should always seek permission from the headteacher to take their children out of school in the term time.
"This applied before September 2013 as well as after, although the new government regulations which came in meant head teachers could no longer grant holidays during term time in 'special circumstances', only 'exceptional circumstances' which are classed as unavoidable causes such as illness or exclusions.
"As a result we have seen more referrals from schools which resulted in fines.
"We adopted a zero tolerance policy so that there was consistency across the authority and ensured that all our head teachers, schools and governing bodies supported this approach."
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