A nurse who left free apples outside her London home for her neighbours was fined £150 by her local council - for 'fly tipping'.
Kind-hearted Lydia Farrell, 33, left fruit in pots and boxes against the wall outside her home, with a sign that invited passers-by to help themselves to the fresh apples. The fruit came from a tree in Lydia's garden and she said it would have gone to waste otherwise.
Understandably, Lydia was shocked to receiving a fine notice from local authority Ealing Council, in west London. She was even warned that she could face court if she didn't pay the £150 fine.
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She shared a post on Facebook, which read: "Feeling disheartened... The council has fined us £150 for 'fly tipping' because we've been leaving free apples outside our house in cardboard boxes (because people were taking the pots!)
"A good deed unfortunately gone wrong."
One Facebook user replied, saying: "This is a really really good deed, loads of homeless people in need of food, kids going hungry and people struggling financially so to offer free food to anyone is really good.
"Can't believe they're fining you £150, is it definitely real and not some scammer trying it on?"
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Speaking to Metro, she said: "[I feel] very disheartened. Especially when I have to walk past all the real fly tipping every day at the end of my road. 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.
"So two real crimes committed by other people and I'm the only one who gets fined."
She added: "I just felt it was quite sad that the council would fine me for doing a good deed."
Since her post, the local council has withdrawn the fine and apologised to Lydia.
She updated her Facebook post, writing: "Apple update - after reading through all my messages and speaking with the lovely @VanessaOnAir [BBC Radio London presenter Vanessa Feltz] it seems I won't have to pay the fine!
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"I'll keep sharing my apples but maybe fix them to my wall somehow next time. Thanks for everyone's support and kind words. And we now have some passion fruit growing!"
A council spokesperson said: "The council recognises that the spirit of the residents' actions was with good intentions. We will be in touch with Ms Farrell to rescind the fine.
"Our priority is to make sure the borough is clean and litter free and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Lydia FarrellTopics: UK News