Girl ‘fined’ for lemonade stand receives job offers
A girl has received a number of job offers after she was handed a £150 fine from her local council for setting up a lemonade stand outside a festival.
Andre Spicer’s daughter was selling cups of lemonade at the end of her street in London’s Mile End, as hundreds of people were attending Lovebox festival in nearby Victoria Park. But within 30 minutes of setting up, four council enforcement officers approached her table and read from a legal letter informing her that, because the operation did not have a trading permit, it would incur a £150 fine.
Businesses have since stepped forward with offers to harness the five-year-old’s entrepreneurial spirit by providing space for a new stand. Borough Market tweeted her father Mr Spicer: “In all seriousness, would your daughter like to sell some lemonade at Borough Market? We’d love to make that happen for her.” She has also been invited to the Friends of Mile End Park Annual Community Fair, while Redhead Day UK
2018 has offered to make her guest of honour at their ginger festivities.
Her family tweeted: “Dozens of festivals, markets and businesses have offered us an opportunity to set up a lemonade stand. We hope they’ll extend the invitation to others who’d love to make a stand. Children could sell home-made lemonade, hand-drawn comics or vegetables they have grown. Young people could do more than sell things, like sharing films or music they’ve created, or gaining support from their local club. We learn through doing.”
Mr Spicer, the girl’s father, is a New Zealander who teaches organisational behaviour at Cass Business School in London. In his Telegraph column about the fine, he compared the way children are brought up now with his own childhood, when his business instincts were allowed to thrive. “When I was growing up, my brother and I were able to wander miles from home without adult supervision,” he wrote. “We were encouraged to sell things to raise money for clubs we were part of, by selling biscuits, we learned about maths, communication and basic business skills.”
Tower Hamlets Council has apologised for the incident, saying: “We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense, and to use their powers sensibly. This clearly did not happen. The fine will be cancelled immediately and we have contacted Mr Spicer and his daughter to apologise.”