PA
The Department for Work and Pensions has revealed some of the outrageous excuses feckless parents use to avoid paying child maintenance for their youngsters.
The award for the most jaw-dropping excuse has to go to a £4,000 a week footballer who had the cheek to tell the Child Support Agency (CSA) that keeping his FERRARI on the road meant he had no money left over to pay child support!
Another dad said he had already bought his youngster a bag of pick 'n' mix sweets, so couldn't provide any more for them. The weirdest excuse goes to the father who claimed he could not afford to make any payments because he'd had to fork out to take his OSTRICH to the vet...
Other reasons for not coughing up include a father who said the child could not possibly be his because its mother was too ugly, and one dad who refused payments on the grounds he had already splashed out on a boob job for the child's mother. Some parents have even claimed it is against their human rights to support their kids!
The Department for Work and Pensions has released the details in an attempt to shame absent parents into taking responsibility for their children.
New measures to be introduced will mean that mums and dads could face losing their homes if they do not make their child maintenance payments. It is estimated that non-resident parents owe a staggering £4billion in child support.
Work and pensions minister, Maria Miller said the Government would not tolerate parents who shirked their responsibilities to their children. She said: 'Most parents do what's right for their children. But as these ridiculous excuses show, there is still a hardcore trying to avoid paying what they owe.
'Our reforms will support parents to make family-based arrangements and free up the state service to chase those who refuse to co-operate.'
Have you battled to get financial support for your children?