A mum has been embroiled in a row with her son's school after the council fined her when he missed class because he was ill.
Jack Hardy, who attends Audenshaw School in Manchester, was first diagnosed with migraines in August last year.
By September, the 14-year-old started to have problems with his stomach, which doctors are still investigating.
His mum Justine Hampshire says she has been fined £60 by the council after her son missed school.
She says she always calls the school whenever Jack is unwell and that she has provided the school with medical evidence, ManchesterEveningNews reports.
She said: "It's not a just normal headache - he can't function. He has them bad and he vomits as well. He has to sleep it off.
"In September he started having troubles with his stomach. He was having really bad stomach pains and was being sick."
She added: "This is still ongoing now. The doctor has informed us that he's got to go for more tests because he's got something up with him."
Justine said she was fined for the occasions Jack was absent between September and December last year.
She said she paid the £60 fine because she was worried about it doubling and going to court.
She said: "I had to pay it, I can't have it doubling, I'm a single parent."
However, she's now worried that she'll continue to be fined whenever Jack is off sick.
She said: "I'm having to force him into school when he's not feeling well. I'm scared I'm going to get fined.
"It's not as if I've taken him out of school to go on holiday.
"I'm disgusted that I'm being fined because my son is sick. I think it's absolutely disgusting.
"I know £60 isn't a lot but it's the principle of it. We shouldn't be punished for our children being sick, it's not fair.
"I don't think I should be fined and punished for him being sick. It's really not fair."
Justine claims she was told the council didn't accept the medical evidence that she had provided.
She claims she was told it didn't meet the council's "criteria" - but added that she shouldn't have to ring the GP every time Jack gets another migraine when he already has a diagnosis.
A Tameside Council spokesperson said: “While we are unable to discuss individual cases, we can confirm we have a code of conduct for issuing penalty notice warnings and penalty notices.
"These are only issued by the council upon application by the school following 10 sessions of unauthorised absence.
"Parents will be issued with a penalty notice warning prior to a penalty notice if the absence is due to reasons other than a holiday in term time.
"It is only after a further period of absence that a penalty notice would be issued.
"For children who have ongoing medical conditions, medical evidence must be provided to ensure further periods of absence are authorised.
"Parents are provided with a contact within the council should they have further information that they want to submit if they believe that the penalty notice has been issued erroneously.”
The Mirror Online contacted Tameside Council and Audenshaw School for comment.
