A 5-year-old’s lemonade stand was shutdown for operating without a street trading license. As a result, her father, Andre Spicer, was fined 150 pounds or 90 pounds ($195 or $117 respectively) if he paid within two weeks.
“My daughter burst into tears, repeating again and again ‘Have I done a bad thing?’,” wrote Spicer, a professor of organizational behavior at the Cass Business School at City University London, in his The Telegraph article.
His daughter was selling cups of lemonade at the end of her street in Mile End, as hundreds of people were attending the Lovebox festival in a nearby park, reports The Independent.
After around 30 minutes of setting up, four local council enforcement officers “stormed up to her little table,” wrote Spicer.
One officer “immediately launched into a legalistic script” and later handed them the fine, reports The Independent.
That’s when his daughter burst into tears and “sobbed all the way” home, wrote Spicer.
Took 5 year old daughter to end of our road to run lemonade stand. Fined £180. She’s now sobbing, ‘I did a bad thing’. Thx @TowerHamletsNow
— André Spicer (@andre_spicer) July 15, 2017
He offered to get her a permit and open a stall on another day, but his daughter said it was “too scary.”
Town Hamlets Council later apologized for the incident and canceled the fine.
So, about the lemonade standard incident… we are very sorry that this has happened. (1/3)
— Tower Hamlets (@TowerHamletsNow) July 21, 2017
We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense, and to use their powers sensibly. This clearly did not happen. (2/3)
— Tower Hamlets (@TowerHamletsNow) July 21, 2017
The fine will be cancelled immediately and we have contacted Mr Spicer and his daughter to apologise. 3/3
— Tower Hamlets (@TowerHamletsNow) July 21, 2017
