Jon Platt was fine £120 by a council after he took his family on holiday to Florida during school term time.
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The magistrates decided Mr Platt had “no case to answer” because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter – who is now aged seven and can only be referred to as M for legal reasons – had failed to attend school “regularly”.
Mr Platt argues the law is unclear and does not allow for automatic fines.
The Isle of Wight Council will now have to pay the full costs of the legal battle, thought to be in the region of £25,000.
Mr Platt, 44, took his daughter to Disney World in Florida in April 2015.
“I hadn’t committed a criminal offence”.
Platt fought the decision, claiming he should avoid punishment because his daughter has an exemplary attendance record.
He also points out that children at private schools, who spend fewer days in the classroom because they have much shorter terms, are exempt from the fines regime.
Speaking at the time of the decision to appeal the Magistrates” decision, council leader and executive member for children’s services Jonathan Bacon, said: “The recent media attention given to this case shows that there is interest, concern and, above all, uncertainty as to what constitutes “regular attendance’ for the purposes of the legislation in question”.
‘Her attendance for the whole of the school year was almost 94 per cent. I don’t know where the threshold is but quite frankly parents need to decide for themselves.
Since 2013, tougher government regulations have meant head teachers can only grant leave of absence to pupils during term-time in “exceptional circumstances”.
The ruling could be made as early as lunch time today. “This nonsense has been going on for two years too long”.
It is also clear that attendance and educational attainment are intertwined, however today’s ruling may be taken to imply that parents can take children out of school on holiday for up the three weeks every year.
‘I’ve had lots of messages from people, asking me, ‘What is the loophole here?’ But there is no loophole, the law just says your children must attend regularly’.
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The case came as a survey revealed that families face paying more than double the price for a package holiday as soon as school holidays begin.
