A British family have been invoiced and threatened with court action after their five year-old child missed a friend's birthday party. Tanya Walsh and her partner Derek Nash from Cornwall in the south west of England received an invoice demanding a Â£15.95 ($24.12) "no-show fee" after their son, Alex, was invited but did not turn up at a school friend's birthday party at a local ski center.

The invoice was discovered in Alex's school bag and his father Derek told the BBC that he "initially thought it was a joke." The issue remains unresolved, however, and the birthday boy's mother, Julie Lawrence, is threatening to take the parents to a small claims court to recover the fee. Lawrence said that Alex's parents had confirmed that their son would be attending the party at a ski slope center and did not get in contact to say that their son could no longer attend. Nash explained to the BBC that that birthday party clashed with another family commitment and at the time did not have Lawrence's contact details.

Lawrence says Alex's non-attendance has left her out of pocket and insisted his parents did have the contact details to tell her he was not going. She said in a statement:"All details were on the party invite. They had every detail needed to contact me." For more on this story, click here.