'I've done a bad thing,' says British girl, 5, fined for selling lemonade

LONDON — It's a time-honored tradition that's as American as apple pie, baseball and, well, selling homemade lemonade. In Britain, it led to a $200 fine. 

Andre Spicer's daughter was selling cups of lemonade near her home in east London when local government workers accused her of not having a commercial license. 

The girl is five. She made the lemonade herself. She wanted 65 cents a cup. (Yes, 65 cents is a lot. But this is London, one of the most expensive cities in the world.)

Spicer, a professor at the University of London, told British media that when confronted by the accusation his daughter burst into tears and said: "I've done a bad thing."

"She was very upset and had to watch Brave a few times to calm down," he said, speaking to The Guardian. The incident took place last Saturday and she was selling the lemonade to music fans who were on their way to the nearby LoveBox Festival. 

Brave is a computer-animated drama from 2012 produced by Pixar Animation Studios that follows the adventures of a courageous daughter of a Scottish king. 

Needless to say, Spicer's daughter did not have a license to sell homemade lemonade. 

"She wanted to sell toys or food or clothes but she eventually decided on lemonade. It was a way to entertain her on a summer’s day. We set up the stand and people started buying the lemonade," Spicer said. "She brought a smile to their faces."

The local government body that issued the fine said Friday it made a mistake and would cancel the penalty. "We are very sorry 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 from the east London borough of Tower Hamlets said.

In an opinion piece for The Telegraph, a daily newspaper, Spicer wrote: "When I shared our experiences with my cousin who lives in Chicago, he told me this would be a national scandal if it happened in the U.S. Americans would not stand for the spirit of free enterprise being throttled in someone so young. A colleague I work with thought this was an example of how we are discouraging budding female entrepreneurs."

Still, in 2015, Texas sisters Andria and Zoey Green, then 8 and 7, respectively, were told by police to shut down their traditional neighborhood lemonade stand because they did not have a "Peddler's Permit" or permission from the Overton, Texas, health department.

The permit costs $150, which the city agreed to waive. Texas law requires the sale of food, which includes lemonade because it needs to be refrigerated to avoid bacteria growth, be temperature-controlled. The girls were raising funds for a Father's Day gift.