Woman convicted after selling goldfish to minor

[Invincible Summer]

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/03/30/Woman-convicted-of-selling-fish-to-minor/UPI-92331269982398/


SALE, England, March 30 (UPI) -- A 66-year-old British woman was fined and ordered to wear an ankle monitor as punishment for selling a goldfish (http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/03/30/Woman-convicted-of-selling-fish-to-minor/UPI-92331269982398/#) to a 14-year-old.


Joan Higgins, 66, owner of Majors Pet Shop in Sale, England, was fined $1,506, ordered to wear an ankle monitor and given a seven-week curfew as punishment for selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy sent into the store by police on a test buy, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.


A 2006 law prohibits the sale of live fishhttp://kona.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif
(http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/03/30/Woman-convicted-of-selling-fish-to-minor/UPI-92331269982398/#) to children under the age of 16.


Higgins' son, Mark, 47, was fined $1,300 and ordered to complete 120 hours of community service.


"I think it's a farce. What gets me so cross is that they put my mum on a tag -- she's nearly 70, for goodness sake," Mark Higgins said. "She's a great grandma so she won't be able to babysit a new born baby. You would think they have better things to do with their time and money."
"The council sent the 14-year-old into us. It is hard to tell how old a lad is these days. He looked much older than 14," he said.



Is this for real? Seriously... wtf?

[Weezer]

Anti-youth ageism doesn't just affect youth. See what it can do to adults?

[Vendetta]

Its a fucking goldfish.

[¿Que?]

I don't get it. Why?

[RedStarOverChina]

Just STOP. STOP reading news altogether during April Fool's day.

[Vendetta]

Just STOP. STOP reading news altogether during April Fool's day.

Didn't think about that, but that's 'cause it's not April Fools yet. Here at least.

[Invincible Summer]

Nor here. Do media outlets post April Fools' stories before the actual day?

[Jazzratt]

Oh for fuck's sake. Firstly this story broke before april fools day, in an incredibly reputable (lol) british paper called the Express [for those of you who don't know the Express it is to journalism what drunken tramp ranting is to philosophy] so no it's not an April Fool's joke. It's also a turd pearl built upon a tiny grain of truth.

Here it is, in fact, an offence to sell fish to children, presumably so that the fish can at least survive long enough to get home or something. Anyway, the penalty for doing so is, I believe, a modest fine because no one gives too much of a shit about it. What you would be forgiven for not knowing because wherever you got this managed to skip over it (forgivable as it was given just one clause in the original storyr) was that the woman was also convicted of "causing unessecary suffering" to a cockatiel - which is where the rest of her fine came from. As for the ankle monitor I believe that came about as a result of her refusal/inability to pay the fine.

So I'll ask again. What in fuck's name is wrong with you shower of credulous morons? Does it not strike you that if you can't be bothered to think critically about a story like this (a story originally made as part of the tabloids' campaign to increase votes for tories by presenting a picture of Britain as worse than it is) then you are pretty fucking easy to dupe.

This thread is bloody dissapointing.

[Chambered Word]

Was the kid going to lick the goldfish and get high or something?

[Jazzratt]

Was the kid going to lick the goldfish and get high or something?

:blink: Is that a thing that people actually do?

[Vendetta]

Here it is, in fact, an offence to sell fish to children, presumably so that the fish can at least survive long enough to get home or something.

Did the government watch too much Finding Nemo or something? :confused:

It's a fucking goldfish. :lol:

[Jazzratt]

Did the government watch too much Finding Nemo or something? :confused:

It's a fucking goldfish. :lol:

Who gives a fuck about the goldfish. Pets in general aren't sold to children, no one saw fit to put in an exception for goldfish. Jesus fucking christ.

[Raightning]

<snip>
I would give this post a thousand thanks if I could.

On the banning of the sale of fish to under-16s specifically, as with all age-based laws it sounds stupid in theory, but the reality is that there are a multitude of reasons why you don't want to sell fish to under-16s - apart from anything else, do you really think that your average kid who just goes out and buys a fish on his own will somehow know about or have the necessary equipment to take care of it? The same can be said of any animal, which is why there's just a general law and no exceptions for anything that "might not be too bad anyway".

I can't stand the idea of age-based laws, but in certain cases they do make sense, as much as it pains me to say it.

[075]

Looking after fish isn't rocket science.

[Dr Mindbender]

Was the kid going to lick the goldfish and get high or something?

No i think the point is that children have a tendency or at least there is a generally accepted view that they are belligerent little bastards that like to torture and kill animals for shits and giggles.

[bricolage]

The kid has learning difficulties and put the goldfish in a coffee cup later that day.

[Lord Testicles]

Is this for real? Seriously... wtf?


Joan Higgins, 66, owner of Majors Pet Shop in Sale, England, was fined $1,506, ordered to wear an ankle monitor and given a seven-week curfew as punishment for selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy sent into the store by police on a test buy, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.


the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.


the Daily Mail

Take a guess.

[Jazzratt]

Take a guess.

The Following User Says Thank You to Skins For This Useful Post, about 77 times:
Jazzratt (http://www.revleft.com/vb/member.php?u=12069)

[Invincible Summer]

Wow everyone's touchy

[Chambered Word]

:blink: Is that a thing that people actually do?

I don't know. brb goldfish

[mikelepore]

Imagine the extensive coverage this would be getting if it had happened in North Korea instead of England.

[075]

Imagine if it happened at all. :ohmy: