John McGuinness fined for taking daughter out of school for TT
TT legend hit with £120 council fine for six-year-old daughter’s school absence
JOHN McGuinness has been fined £120 for taking his daughter out of school to watch him race at the Isle of Man TT.
McGuinness took six-year-old daughter Masie to last month’s TT, where he scored his 23rd win with a 132.701mph lap record in the Senior race. The Morecambe Missile said he could not compete without his family present.
Great Wood Primary school in Morecambe had granted permission for an earlier trip to Australia and warned further absence would result in a fine.
Head teacher John Ross said: ‘We can only authorise absence in exceptional circumstances.'
McGuinness, 43, told local paper the Morecambe Visitor: ‘The TT is the biggest, most dangerous thing for me and I have my family around me for it.
‘I do a mainly risky job, you can’t concentrate without your family around you, they are my rock, I need them around me in situations like this.
‘My dad goes to the TT and most of the family are in the Isle of Man so I can’t leave the kids with nobody. When we are there my wife takes the children everywhere, to museums, so they are learning all the time. For as long as I am riding they will be there.’
McGuinness said he had known he would be hit with the council fine and questioned why the money did not go directly to the school. ‘I just can’t understand why the money doesn’t go back into the school,’ he said.
