A MIDDLEWICH dad is challenging a £1,800 fine from Cheshire East Council for allowing his daughter time off school.

Alan Brookes, of Booth Lane, says he took his daughter Alanah, 15, out of school for a total of 16 days because she was being bullied and then because of a family bereavement.

The Middlewich High School pupil was absent for six days for alleged bullying, which the police were called in to resolve.

She then took a further 10 days off school after her Grandad died in hospital.

Alan and his partner were then issued a £927 fixed penalty notice from a Cheshire East Council.

Since the dispute started Alan has already appeared at Crewe Magistrates’ Court, where he represented himself.

Alan said: “I am hopeful that this can be resolved but what chance have you really got when it goes to court?

“I hold my hands up, but my daughter was getting bullied and I had informed the school.

“How can somebody go to court on these grounds when it was all signed off properly?

“I told the teachers at the school and they were all well aware of the situation, so how it has got to this stage I do not know.

“If she had been on holiday I would have paid the fine.

“But now I am waiting for a bailiff to come here and start demanding my things.”

He added: “I don’t intend to pay it.”

After a penalty issue is noticed, each parent or carer is fined £60 per day that their child does not attend school.

If parents do not pay then the local authority has the power to prosecute and the convicted parent could receive a criminal record if found guilty.

A Warrant of Control has now been issued to the former UKIP councillor which means his belongings may now be repossessed to pay the fine.

Alan insists he will not pay the debt and is hoping for justice in the near future to resolve the issue.

Alan is a former Middlewich town councillor but was removed from his position in 2016 due to missing a series of meetings after injuries sustained from a dog bite.

Cheshire East Council declined to comment.