A mum has been slapped with a £200 fine for littering after seagulls ate a few McDonald’s chips she accidentally dropped on the floor.
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 up 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, where he was hiding, wearing all black clothes.
“We didn’t see any proper ID, he just flashed it very quickly and didn’t let us look at it before he 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”.
When asking for Jacqui’s details he didn’t take her name down correctly despite the Queenborough resident spelling it out for him.
She said: “He was very arrogant about it.
“There’s no signs at all either that say don’t feed the birds and I said to the officer that I really didn’t know what I’d done wrong.
“We even took all our food packaging and rubbish away with us once we’d finished eating.
“I asked him if it was a joke because we’ve had the problems with the bins recently. I even paid for a private company to empty four of our wheelie bins because the council wouldn’t come in to do it, how hypocritical is that? I pay for the rubbish to be collected and then I’m fined for dropping a couple of chips.
“I just think they’re targeting the wrong people.
“It was ironic because where we were sat, we were surrounded by rubbish, that we hadn’t dropped.
“When it happened I said to him; ‘So you’re not allowed to go and feed the ducks, you’re not allowed to put any food on the floor for any animal?’ and he said; ‘You can’t go and feed the ducks’.
“I just thought it was bizarre.”
The fine was £200 reduced to £150 if paid within 14 days.
She appealed the fine on Monday, May 20, having received it while the couple were away.
She added: “I’m a dog walker, I’m on a really low wage, and I have three children under 13 years old.
“I’m appealing the £200 fine because I don’t have the money in my bank account to pay it.
“I’m in debt. I genuinely can’t pay it, it would mean I can’t feed my children for a week.
“They’re not going to get the money because I haven’t got it.”
A council spokesman said: “We are currently reviewing the matter and can’t comment on an active investigation.”