A grandmother was left "shocked and embarrassed" after being slapped with a £100 littering fine for feeding ducks.
Susan Watson, 68, was stung with a littering ticket after a council officer spotted her scattering a slice of bread for some ducks next to a river.
The dementia nurse, from Tonbridge, Kent, was walking along a public pathway which runs along the River Medway on January 31.
After absentmindedly tearing up a slice of bread to feed to some ducks, she was approached by an officer from Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) and given a £100 fine for littering.
Susan told KentOnline: "I was so shocked. I remember someone started to run after me shouting 'hello'. He told me I was on camera and that I had committed an environmental infringement.
"There were no crumbs on the pathway and the bread went straight into the water.
"I asked if he could give me a warning but he refused.
"He went on to say that what I did could be seen as fly-tipping, which is a much bigger offence. It was one slice of bread."
Susan, who has lived in Tonbridge for nearly 20 years, takes the route along the River Medway into the town centre everyday.
She added: "I don't always feed the ducks but that one day I had a slice of crust left and thought it would be nice to. Lots of other people do it including children.
"I suggested to the officer that they should put up some signs. He said that it's all on the council's website.
"I rang the council the same day and the women on the phone asked if I was joking! They also told me they would ring me back, but they never have."
In October last year TMBC announced it was working with a private enforcement company to crackdown on littering across the borough.
The council partnered up with National Enforcement Solutions (NES) - a specialist company which provides "front-line enforcement" - in a project named 'No Ifs, No Butts'.
The specialist teams have been patrolling towns and villages, keeping an eye out for people discarding rubbish on the street.
Those caught dropping litter, including cigarette stubs, could face a fixed penalty of up to £150 - or £100 if paid within 10 days.
Susan decided to pay the fine as she was concerned it would increase to the maximum penalty if she left it too long.
She said: "For me to earn £100 is the equivalent of six hours on a night shift. I wouldn't have kicked off as much if it was £30, or if he gave me a warning.
"I'm so embarrassed, I've never paid a fine in my life before. I've had to take the money out of my pension fund to pay for it."
"It's madness. Everyone I have told thinks I'm making it up."
The council has since agreed to refund the fine after admitting they had "got this one wrong".
A spokesman for TMBC told KentOnline: "We got this one wrong. The enforcement officer from NES considered that dropping what he felt was a large amount of bread into the river justified a penalty.
"However, before this was even brought to our attention, the company had reviewed the case and come to the decision that it was not warranted.
"The penalty has already been refunded and we'd like to apologise to Ms Watson for the error."
