Isle of Wight
The pier on the Isle of Wight (Picture for representation) AFP/Getty

The High Court on Friday will pass a judgement in the case of a father who took his daughter for an unauthorised holiday during term-time and got fined £120 ($173.25) by the Isle of Wight council.

Jon Platt, 44, a businessman from Nettlestone took his seven-year-old daughter to Florida on a holiday in April 2015. He was initially asked to pay a fine of £60 for taking her out during term-time and when he missed the deadline the fine doubled to £120, which he refused to pay as well.

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In the magistrate court, he argued against section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 and said that "I'm not a qualified lawyer but my understanding of this law is it's very simple. My child needs to attend school regularly."

He further elaborated, "Her attendance for the whole of the last school year was nearly 94%. I don't know where the threshold is but, frankly, parents need to decide for themselves. When I made the application through the school to get her time off, it was refused, even though her attendance at the time was 100%."

The Isle of Wight magistrates said he had no case to answer. The council challenged the decision and filed an appeal in the High Court.

Old regulations had provisions for students to go away on a holiday during term-time for 10 days under special circumstances. However, since September 2013, when changes in regulations were brought about, children can be granted term-time holiday only under "exceptional circumstances" and permission should be obtained in advance by a head teacher.

Since the change in rules, 64,000 fines have been issued, which is a 70% rise, local authority data suggests.

Craig Langman, a campaigner for Platt's cause, told BBC, "We are backing Jon Platt all the way. It's time we bring discretion and common sense back into the education system. This nonsense has been going on for two years too long."