A working mother with four children spent a day in a Police cell after failing to pay a $200 medical bill.

Tonya Durham, was marched before Magistrate Arthur Hodgson by bailiffs on Tuesday morning.

She then spent the rest of the day behind bars at Hamilton Police Station with the threat of a 90-day prison sentence hanging over her unless she could get the bill paid that day.

The 28-year-old was finally released at 6 p.m. after she managed to contact a friend who put up the cash for her.

And when she finally reached her Somerset home two hours later she discovered her children had been left unattended outside in the pouring rain since returning home from school.

Ironically Ms Durham was also given the sack by her employers because she had been unable to work that day -- although they eventually agreed to reinstate her after she explained her predicament.

And she also claims that she is only in debt because magistrates have continually refused to order her former partner to keep up with child support payments.

"The whole system is just ridiculous,'' a distraught Ms Durham said. "I had just turned up for work when these bailiffs came around and took me to court.

"I didn't have time to make arrangements for when my children came home from school. Normally I get home at 4 p.m. so I can be there for them but I didn't get out of the Police Station until 6 p.m.

"I nearly lost my job over this. But the only reason I have a debt is because my partner owes me about $9,000 in child support. When he appears in court because he hasn't paid he's allowed to walk free and yet they lock me up because I haven't paid a bill. I'm the one who is working to try and support my family.

"I was unable to get a drink of water and it was after 2 p.m. before I was given anything to eat. I thought I was going to die in there.'' Sheelagh Cooper, chairwoman of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, said: "There is a big difference between financial irresponsibility and poverty and that's why we no longer have debtor's prisons -- or do we? "While I can't speak to the particulars of the woman's situation I do know that more and more single mothers, through no fault of their own, are falling behind in their payments.

"Many mothers have to choose between feeding their children and paying their rent -- a choice between hunger and homelessness,'' she said.