WHEN 12-YEAR-OLD Tommy was stopped by truancy officers in Liverpool he had what he believed to be the perfect excuse for not being in school.
Tommy (not his real name) told them: "My mum went to a fortune teller last night and she said if I went to school today I would suffer a serious injury."
When attendance support officer Lycia Regan went to see the boy's mother at the family home in Walton, she confirmed her reading was what kept Tommy off school.
An ECHO team saw seven children picked up by a truancy sweep within 20 minutes yesterday, four of whom were with their parents and one in school uniform.
Mrs Regan said: "It really is amazing some of the excuses which we are given, but I think the fortune teller story has to be the most outrageous.
"We will have parents saying to us their child is off school with an infection or a stomach bug, and we will point out to them that they appear to be well enough to be walking around the shops so therefore they should be in school."
Mrs Regan said truants often claimed they did not have the right uniform or shoes when picked up at the start of a new term.
The truancy team is aiming to educate all parents about the importance of their children attending school.
Lesley Sheriff, manager in education welfare and attendance, said: "It is all about bringing a cultural change. Parents need to understand how much even a small amount of absence from school can affect a child.
"Just five days' absence a term does not sound a great deal, but this actually adds up to an entire school year when the child's whole school life is taken into consideration."
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