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A five-year-old has been handed an invoice and his parents threatened with court action - for missing his friend's BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Derek Nash and Tanya Walsh were stunned when they found an invoice for £15.95 in their son's school bag.

Alex Nash, aged five, decided to go on an outing with his grandparents instead of taking up an invite to attend the friend's birthday bash at a snow centre.

Children at the party were treated to three toboggan runs, a snow-tube ride and a hot birthday meal with ice cream or jelly during the Christmas holidays.

But delivery driver Derek was horrified when Alex came home with a bill in a brown envelope from party host Julie Lawrence in his school bag last Thursday.

(Image: SWNS)

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The £15.95 invoice covered the cost of one child attending the party at the Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre in Plymouth. Derek confronted Ms Lawrence about the bill at her home.

He said: "When she answered the door I told her I had found the invoice in my son's school bag and that I wasn't happy about it.

"I told her I would not be paying her the money. 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.

"She didn't treat me like a human being, she treated me like a child and that I should do what she says.

"I told her she should have spoken to me first and not put the invoice in my son's school bag.

"I would have sympathised with her about the cost of Alex not showing up, but I just can't believe the way she has gone around it."

(Image: SWNS)

Derek and Tanya, from Torpoint, Cornwall, fear they could be taken to a small claims court if they don't pay up.

The couple claim they did not have contact details for Ms Lawrence to let her know in advance that Alex would not be at the party.

His mum Tanya said: "Julie Lawrence and I weren't friends, we didn't talk to each other at school but I felt bad about Alex not going to the party.

"I searched for the party invite afterwards and I'm not sure we even had one.

"But to be invoiced like this is so over the top - I've never heard of anything like it. It's a terrible way of handling it - it's very condescending."

(Image: Facebook)

But Ms Lawrence said: "All details were on the party invite. They had every detail needed to contact me."

Alex's parents say the two children no longer play together at Torpoint Nursery and Infant School.

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Ski centre manager Louisa Duggan said: "This is nothing to do with us. It is a dispute between two parents.

But I really need to clarify that we don't send invoices to private individuals - ever.

"We don't know the names of the children coming so we would never even be able to.

"We are upset that we have been dragged into this. We ask families who book with us to pay a small deposit and then 48 hours before we ask them to confirm the numbers. This gives them plenty of time to get responses in."