--- description: A five-year-old girl who decided to run a lemonade stand in her East London neighborhood was fined nearly $200. title: 5-Year-Old Girl Fined Nearly $200 for Holding Lemonade Stand image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb6ba8cb71eec3f1/6988d6aa196cf49113041204/lemonade-stand.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 5-Year-Old Girl Fined Nearly $200 for Holding Lemonade Stand  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jul 21, 2017 4:42 PM CUT  Lemonade stand Lemonade standbelindaroberts/Getty Images/RooM RF  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jul 21, 2017 4:42 PM CUT A [five-year-old girl](http://time.com/4723674/birthday-party-costco-ideas/ "undefined") who decided to run a [lemonade stand](http://time.com/4015190/jerry-seinfeld-lemonade-stand/ "undefined") in her East [London](http://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12698/check-out-this-compilation-of-londons-coolest-cars-and-motorcycles "undefined") neighborhood was fined nearly $200 for not having a trading permit. In a Thursday article for [_The Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fatherhood/5-year-old-daughter-fined-150-selling-lemonade/ "undefined"), the girl’s father, Andre Spicer, described how four police officers approached the stand shortly after his daughter had begun selling her home-made beverage. “After about 30 minutes, four local council enforcement officers stormed up to her little table,” he wrote. “‘Excuse me,’ one officer said as he switched on a portable camera attached to his vest. He then read a lengthy legal statement – the gist of which was that because my daughter didn’t have a trading permit, she would be fined \[$195\]. ‘But don’t worry, it is only \[$117\] if it’s paid quickly,’ the officer added.” Spicer went on to explain how upset his daughter was by the incident — which he dubbed Lemonadegate. “My daughter burst into tears, repeating again and again, ‘Have I done a bad thing?'” Council officials stated Friday that the fine would be cancelled immediately, according to [CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lemonade-stand-london-girl-fine-unlicensed-vending-lovebox-festival/ "undefined"). “We are very sorry that this has happened. We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense, and to use their powers sensibly. This clearly did not happen,” the statement read. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4868393/lemonade-stand-fine-5-year-old/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4868393/lemonade-stand-fine-5-year-old/"},"headline":"5-Year-Old Girl Fined Nearly $200 for Holding Lemonade Stand","datePublished":"2017-07-21T16:42:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:33.732Z","description":"\"Have I done a bad thing?\"","url":"https://time.com/4868393/lemonade-stand-fine-5-year-old/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","viral","Bizarre","Lemonade"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb6ba8cb71eec3f1/6988d6aa196cf49113041204/lemonade-stand.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb6ba8cb71eec3f1/6988d6aa196cf49113041204/lemonade-stand.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lemonade stand","caption":"Lemonade stand","creditText":"belindaroberts/Getty Images/RooM RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4868393/lemonade-stand-fine-5-year-old/","name":"5-Year-Old Girl Fined Nearly $200 for Holding Lemonade Stand"}}]}] ```