Dad 'marks' schools boss's holiday fine letter

A father has "marked and graded" a letter sent by the county's education head with seven spelling mistakes.

Daniel Moore from Exmouth, Devon, was sent the letter to inform him of a £60 fine for keeping his son away from school for five days during term time.

He called the council "hypocrites", adding he would pay the fine but would return the letter with markings in red.

Devon County Council apologised for the "embarrassing" error, blaming it on a "new IT printing system".

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Mr Moore, a baker, took his family on a week-long holiday to Majorca, Spain, in May.

He received the letter from Devon County Council on Tuesday.

In a post on Facebook, he said: "Today we received our fines for taking Charlie on holiday.

"I'm not going to pretend I'm a spelling guru or a typing expert. But I'm also not the head of education in Devon.

"This woman's in charge of the future generation's education, our children's education and she's rubber stamping this tripe.

"I'm going to pay the fine, no questions asked, but I shall also be sending her letter back marked and graded."

He added: "Maybe I'll throw a little holiday snap in as well."

A Devon County Council spokesman said: "We have been trialling a new IT printing system and a number of mistakes were unfortunately not picked up before this letter was dispatched.

"It is an embarrassing error and we have taken steps to ensure it won't be repeated."

Figures obtained by the BBC revealed Devon County Council issued 1,479 fines to parents for not sending their children to school in 2016-17.

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