Great Grandmother Tagged

[dinger]

have you heard about this lady she has been tagged and fined £1.000 for selling a gold fish from her shop to a 14yr old boy . She believed he was 16 the age they are allowed to buy pets. I just don't understand this law at all if you go to a fair a child can win a gold fish or has that become another stupid law. The worst part about this case is this boy was sent in by watchdogs so in actual fact she was trapped into this situation . What do you think about this.

[Crocus]

Goodness, I actually feel very sorry for this poor woman, being a great grandmother, being tagged and fined, and not knowing that this boy is only 14 years old. A thousand pounds is a whole lot of money!

[dragonfly]

If the shop was being watched they must have sold quite a lot to underage children.
If not and they have just picked on her then it seems unfair as a lot of 14 year olds can look 16.

[jazzactivist]

From what I heard on the radio her shop was being watched for quite a long time because she was selling animals to underage children, and also not regarding other laws. It does seem an inappropriate penalty to be tagged and have a curfew though, as how will that stop her selling pets?

[dinger]

I can understand it must be a rule for not selling animals to underage children to stop them being abused but did'nt know it could apply to a fish.

[eleanor2]

wish theyd be as vigilant on real criminals.

[jazzactivist]

A fish still deserves a decent life I expect. According to the radio programme I listened to it isn't allowed to uses fish as fairground prizes anymore, again because of the conditions. Perhaps this woman led an out-of-hours racket in selling fish to minors - I bet they slunk into dark stairwells thinking that they were going to buy drugs and came out with a fish instead!:)

[souter girl]

We had a fairground goldfish that lived for about 12 years - I don't knoiw if he/she regarded it as a good life, but never heard it complain.
More seriously I am glad that there is an attempt to clamp down on selling animals as "pets" in an irresponsiblle manner, but I do not think this case was the right way to go about it. Surely the police/authorities have better uses for their funding? It seems to me they have (again) gone for a "soft" target, i.e. one where it would be easy to get a conviction and keep their conviction figures up.

[dinger]

This was why I felt it unfair to this woman they obviously sent this lad in to trap her. If they are going to do this kind of thing pity they don't use this approach with drug dealers. I would have thought that was a criminal worth catching.

[Crocus]

I would've thought if this child wanted to buy some kind of exotic animal then this law would count, but not when it's only 1 little gold fish? I suppose the line must be drawn somewhere, but wow, and old lady selling a gold fish to a lad she thought 16 years of age.....

[jazzactivist]

I once had a fairground fish that lived for many years too. Unfortunately, it was so lively that it met its end when it jumped out of its bowl for the upteenth time, and the dog ate it! Police trapping like this is quite common for a whole range of age restricted items. I wonder where the police get their "mystery shoppers" though. I can't imagine that it is much of a coveted role amongst teenagers. Perhaps they offer to let them off a minor charge if they do the 'sting'! Or maybe I've been watching too many episodes of The Bill...

[sunflower]

This lady had a parrot in her shop that had a broken leg or wing. So I think there is more to this story than selling a goldfish to a child.

[Crocus]

Oh okay, perhaps the gold fish was just the last straw then?

[dinger]

if you look on the employment sites there are adverts for people to be mystery shoppers. it has also been advertised in our local paper recently.

[dragonfly]

I would like to be a personal shopper so that I could report rubbish shop workers. Those that don't look at you never mind smile. Those talking to someone else while serving you. Some are so disinterested that they shouldn't be in the job. I like old fashioned service where you get service with a smile and thanked for your custom.