IT seems that disobedience runs in the family for troublesome Worcestershire pupils who fail to turn up to school.

Thirty-five families have been fined £50 for their offspring's persistent absence from the classroom under a new law to crack down on truancy.

But only three of them have paid up within 28 days, which means the amount they have to fork out has doubled to £100.

Are they simply sticking two fingers up to the authorities, or genuinely having trouble finding the money?

Statistics show that persistant truants are much more likely to come from families at the lower end of the economic scale.

But if parents really cannot afford to pay the fine, they need to get in touch with the council - as they are invited to do in our front page story today - or they will only get themselves into more trouble, and may even find themselves in jail.

If they don't contact the council, we can only assume that they are simply refusing to pay up because, like their children, they have no respect for the law.

The principle of fining parents whose children play hookey is controversial, but seems to be supported by most people.

Fines are intended to shock parents who don't send their children to school into making more of an effort.

In three out of 35 cases, it seems to have done the trick, but that's not good enough.

Maybe we need to think of more inventive penalties. Now if we confiscated their TVs...