Childish Behaviour

For some reason this story about an invoice being sent to the parents of a boy who was a 'no show' for a friend's birthday party received acres of publicity which I find rather irritating I have to say, especially when you stop to consider that 'real' news. for example the fight for equal pay in North Lanarkshire, seldom makes the headlines. 

Anyway, for what it's worth I think the whole business is a load of 'bollix' because the family of the 'no-show' boy appear to have been rather rude, the parents who then sent them a 'no-show fee' were being even more badly behaved - only for the father of the 'no-show' boy to cap it all by seeking to publicise the affair with pictures of his son.

If you ask me, they're all mad including the newspaper.

Boy, 5, sent invoice after birthday party no-show


Alex Nash, 5, and his dad Derek, with the invoice. Picture: Hemedia

By JANE BRADLEY - The Scotsman

IT should have been a fun ­occasion – a boy’s birthday party at a tobogganing centre, ­complete with tea and balloons.

But the event has now turned into the focus of a public row between two families after the mother of the boy holding the party sent a formal invoice to the parents of his friend Alex for a “party no-show fee”.

The document, which included an invoice number, charged Tanya Walsh and Derek Nash £15.95 for the cost of their five-year-old son’s non-attendance at the event, held during the Christmas holidays.

And the Nashes are now being threatened with action at the small claims court if they refuse to pay up, while the mother of the birthday boy has banned her son from ever playing with Alex again.

They say Alex failed to turn up to his friend Charlie’s party due to a scheduling mix-up involving a day out with his grandparents – who were going away on holiday – which they had promised Alex’s sister. They claim they had no contact details for Charlie’s mother, Julie Lawrence, to let her know he would no longer be able to attend the event at Plymouth Ski Slope & Snowboard Centre.

When the boys returned to school, Mrs Lawrence sent the invoice home by placing it in a brown envelope and asking a teacher to put it in Alex’s school bag. Talking about the letter, Mr Nash, of Torpoint, Cornwall, said: “It was an invoice for a child no-show for the party. It was a proper invoice with full official details and even her bank details on it.

“I can understand that she’s upset about losing money. The money isn’t the issue – it’s the way she went about trying to get the money from me.”