A mum who was fined £200 for littering after seagulls ate a few McDonald’s chips she accidentally dropped on the floor has had her penalty notice cancelled.
Jacqueline Clarke was tucking into her quarter-pounder meal next to a seaside Tesco when an environment warden “hidden between the cars” approached her.
The 34-year-old received the penalty just after 2pm on Wednesday, May 8, after she and her husband, Neil, collected their order through the fast food drive-thru and parked by the supermarket in Sheerness.
Jacqui, a dog walker, explained: “I’d just finished work and me and Neil didn't want to sit in the car and eat so we went to the very back of the Tesco car park by the sea wall and just sat next to the car.
“As I was eating the McDonald's I dropped a couple of chips on the floor by accident and a seagull just came and ate them, like they do.
“Then about thirty seconds after an environment officer came out from behind a car and said that we're not allowed to do that with the chips and we've just littered.
“He said it was caught on CCTV, and he's going to give us a £200 fine.
“We told him we just dropped a couple of chips and the birds ate them and he said it doesn’t matter, you can't do that, so you're going to be fined.”
The penalty notice the mum-of-three received stated that the Swale council officer witnessed “the lady feeding the birds chips” which he had “reason to believe was an offence”.
However, today (May 23) after KentOnline shared Jacqui’s story yesterday, Kingdom (the company employed by Swale council who issued the fine) emailed the mum-of-three saying they’d decided to cancel the fixed penalty notice.
In a letter addressed to her, they said: “The decision has been made to cancel your fixed penalty notice.
“This means you will receive no further correspondence from us regarding this matter.”
Swale council has been contacted for comment on this decision.
Speaking of her relief after finding out the fine had been dropped Jacqui said: “I’m so relieved.
“I want to use this opportunity as a warning to others if they are planning on taking children to feed ducks. I know we won't be doing anything like it in the future.
“And be careful of those pesky seagulls!”
