Australian airport authorities have thrown the book at a Kiwi grandma, slapping her with a $3,300 fine for carrying a chicken sandwich she says she totally forgot about after buying it at Christchurch airport.
Officials defended their feathered fine by squawking about the need for an import permit for that innocent-looking sandwich, warning the penalty could have been even pluckier.
Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry waltzed into the spotlight, responding to the brouhaha caused by this culinary caper.
June Armstrong, from Canterbury, found herself in a pickle, insisting the hefty fine was overblown, telling New Zealand Herald about how the poultry predicament had left her life scrambled.
The 77-year-old says she casually tossed the sandwich in her bag and forgot about it while travelling across the ditch in May 2023. The pensioner says she tried to appeal within the 28-day payment period, only to get generic automatic replies, and she eventually paid the penalty.
“My husband kept saying, ‘Just pay it’. I said, ‘It’s our pension, we can’t afford this’,” the woman told Herald.
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