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It’s not uncommon for a little 5-year old to have their own lemonade stand, but in London one youngster was fined $200 for her lemonade stand.
Her father, Andre Spicer explained that his daughter made signs and set her own stand up and sold her lemonade for 66 cents a cup too. The spot she picked was down the street from their home and it was a hot spot for foot traffic since people were making their way to the Lovebox Festival.
“She just wanted to put a smile on people’s faces, her father told BBC. “She was really proud of herself.”
Spicer said that four local council enforcement officers came in and approached the 5-year old. The men turned their body cams on and started to speak “legalistic script” to her that basically said she broke the law and was getting fined 150 pounds ($200 American dollars)
“I was quite shocked,” Spicer said. “We were then issued a fine of 150 pounds. We packed up and walked home.”
Her father said that that was it for her lemonade stand, but the girl told her father , “I’ve done a bad thing” and she cried the entire way back too. Her father said that she had to watch the movie ‘Brave’ a few times before calming down too.
He suggested that they apply for the permits, but all she could say was that it sounded “too scary.”
“I’m a profesor in a business school, so I probably should have known some kind of permit was required,” Spicer wrote in an op-ed for the Telegraph. “But this was a five-year old kid selling lemonade. She wasn’t exactly a public safety hazard.”
The council has since apologized saying, “We are very sorry that this has happened. We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense and to use their powers sensibly,” they said in a statement. “This clearly did not happen. The fine will be canceled immediately and we have contacted Mr. Spicer and his daughter to apologize.”
Via:washingtonpost
