5-Year-Old Girl Fined By Police For Selling Lemonade

A five-year-old British girl who was fined for setting up a lemonade stand without a license has received offers from other events to sell lemonade, reported BBC Sunday. The five-year old daughter of Andre Spicer, a business school professor, set up a lemonade stand to sell cups of lemonade outside Lovebox Festival in east London on July 14.

According to Spicer, his daughter “burst into tears” when four law enforcement officials walked up to her stand and “began reading from a big script explaining that she did not have a trading license.” His daughter was approached by law enforcement within half an hour of setting up.

Read: 10 Best And Worst States To Start A Business Revealed By New Study

They were fined £150 (about $195), packed up the stand and walked home.

“My daughter clung to me screaming, 'Daddy, Daddy, I’ve done a bad thing,'” Spicer said.

After the incident, Spicer wrote an opinion piece in a British newspaper expressing his thoughts on what it revealed about British society and its attitudes towards female entrepreneurship. Since the incident occurred on July 15, Tower Hamlets Council apologized and voided the fine.

“We are very sorry that this has happened,” Tower Hamlets Council tweeted. “We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense and to use their power sensibly. This clearly did not happen.”

Since the incident, various other festivals and events extended invitations for Spicer’s daughter to set up her lemonade stand and sell refreshments.

Borough Market, one of London’s most popular markets, tweeted Spicer, saying, “In all seriousness, would your daughter like to sell some lemonade at Borough Market? We’d love to make that happen for her.”

LeeFest: Neverland also invited Spicer and his daughter to sell lemonade in August at its festival in Kent, England.

Read: Sweden Will Hold Women-Only Music Festival Following Reports Of Sexual Assault

“We have been overwhelmed by the kind response from people across the world. Dozens of festivals, markets and businesses have offered us an opportunity to set up a lemonade stand,” Spicer tweeted. “We hope they will extend this invitation to others who’d love to make a stand. Children could sell home-made lemonade, hand drawn comics or vegetables they have grown."

"This summer, it would be amazing to see children and young people at festivals, markets and businesses across the country showing the positive things they can do," he added.