A couple with 22 children has spoken out after being taken to court for their $70,000 Disney vacation.
Noel and Sue Radford, stars of the reality show 22 Kids and Counting and parents to Britain‘s largest family with 22 children, have found themselves at the center of a legal storm after their lavish Disney World vacation landed them in court.
The couple, from Morecambe in Lancashire, have built their extraordinary family over more than three decades.
Sue became pregnant with their first child at just 13 years old, while Noel was 17.
They tied the knot three years later and went on to welcome 22 children, ranging from 35-year-old Chris down to five-year-old Heidi.
The family also includes 11 grandchildren, and tragically, one child, Alfie, was stillborn.
The Radfords support their massive brood through their bakery business, Radford’s Pie Company, which they purchased in 1999, alongside income from their Channel 5 television show and social media partnerships with over 530,000 Instagram followers.
Despite claiming they were feeling the pinch financially last year, the family has continued their jet-setting lifestyle with trips to the Maldives, Dubai, and multiple visits to the United States.
The drama began when the couple decided to spare no expense for Sue’s milestone 50th birthday in March 2025.
Sue, who insisted she was ’49 plus one,’ wanted ‘a whole year of celebrations’ to mark entering her fifth decade.
The family organized an extravagant getaway to Orlando’s Disney World, with the celebration reportedly costing around $70,000.
They shelled out approximately $35,000 on flights alone, plus accommodation and park passes for nearly their entire clan, including their 11 grandchildren.
But the fairy tale trip hit turbulence before the family even left British soil.
Twenty-four-year-old Millie Radford and her two children were stranded at the airport when their ESTA travel certificates expired. Noel stayed behind with his daughter and grandchildren while they reapplied, eventually joining the rest of the family in Florida the following day.
One daughter, 29-year-old Chloe, was notably absent from the trip as she was due to give birth to her second child.
The family documented their magical vacation on Instagram, posting envy-inducing photos of themselves posing with Donald Duck and Sue sporting Minnie Mouse ears while holding a giant drink.
However, upon returning home, reality came crashing down.
The couple was hauled before Preston Magistrates Court and found guilty of failing to ensure regular school attendance for four of their children between March 24 and May 1, 2025.
The verdict added an unexpected $1,024 to their vacation bill. Each parent was fined $88 per child, along with $160 in court costs.
Lancashire County Council defended the legal action, with a spokesperson stating per AOL: “Ensuring young people receive a good education and have a good start in life is one of our key priorities. Evidence shows that attainment is linked to attendance, so supporting our schools with this issue is important.”
The spokesperson continued: “The laws on attendance are very clear and there are some legitimate reasons why pupils can’t always go to school. We always encourage schools to work closely with parents to reduce unauthorized absences and our aim is to ensure that children and young people attend school and receive a good education.”
Under UK law, vacations are generally not considered an exceptional circumstance for taking children out of school during term time, and parents can face fines or even prosecution for unauthorized absences.
But the Radfords aren’t taking the court ruling lying down.
In a fiery Instagram statement to their hundreds of thousands of followers, Sue and Noel fired back with serious allegations of their own, claiming a potential data breach involving their children’s school records.
“Will also be going into details of the children’s secondary school breaching data protection from sharing our children’s details on someone else’s form who doesn’t live in our house, along with emails sent to the school and registration details,” the post read.
“We also had another child’s details and emails on our form. Now, please tell me if this is ok or not?”
The couple has also addressed criticism about their ages when they became parents. “
We were young and we were daft. But we wanted to continue as a couple,” Noel wrote in the family’s book, ‘The Radfords: Making Life Count.’ “We were both kids, it was not as if I was 10 or 15 years older than Sue.”
Despite the legal drama and fines, the Radfords show no signs of slowing down their travel plans.
Just weeks after returning from the Disney World trip, the family was spotted heading back to Florida for another vacation in June, marking their eighth visit to the United States in just three years. The family has also toured Europe in their $53,000 motorhome purchased in 2022.
