A WOMAN who appealed against an order to forfeit a £500 surety guarantee for her son failed to attend court.

Sylvia Forrest, who said she was ill, failed to send a sick note to Bolton Crown Court explaining her absence.

As a result, her appeal against the £500 order, which she claimed she couldn't afford to pay, remains in force and now she will have to fork out an extra £125 in court costs.

Forrest, of Thompson Drive, Bury, had agreed to stand £1,000 surety for her son in a court case but when he failed to attend she claimed she had not understood the form she had signed.

The court heard that at the time when she agreed to stand as surety for her son she had £1,000 in a building society account.

But since then she had repaired a door damaged by her son and taken the children on holiday and said she now had no money to pay the £1,000.

A court had earlier reduced the order to £500 but Forrest's appeal against that decision was due to be heard at Bolton Crown Court.

But when the court heard she had a sore throat and was due to attend at her doctor's surgery, the case was put back until later for production of a faxed sick note.

But when that failed to arrive Recorder Richard Brittain, sitting with two magistrates, threw out the case and ordered her to pay court costs of £125 in addition to the £500 surety order.