A generous nurse has been slapped with a fine after offering her excess apples to passersby outside her home in west London.
As 33-year-old Lydia Farrell, who is a nurse, explained, she thought of placing her excess apples in a bucket outside her home so that people passing by could take them for free.
And so, rather than letting the fruits go to waste, the nurse placed the apples in a bucket with a label that read “free eating apples” and presented them on the pavement outside her home.
What Farrell didn’t expect, however, was that she would be fined by the city council for what she believed was a “good deed.”
According to the 33-year-old, she was accused of littering in a letter by Ealing Council and ordered to pay £150 ($200) or face a legal dispute.
“We’d been away for a few days and not only did we come home to that fine but also someone had forced entry into our back garden and broken our fence,” Farrell said in an interview with Metro.co.uk.
“So two real crimes were committed by other people and I’m the only one who gets fined. I just feel it was quite sad that the council would fine me for doing a good deed.”
After the nurse’s story went viral and people condemned the authorities, the city council promised to rescind the fine.
“The council recognizes the spirit of the residents’ actions was with good intentions. We will be in touch with Ms Farrell to rescind the fine,” a spokesperson said.
“Our priority is to make sure the borough is clean and litter free and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Replaced!