I dropped a morsel of my girl's sausage roll and the litter police fined me £75

So when Sarah Davies accidentally dropped a piece of sausage roll while giving it to her hungry four-year- old daughter Chloe, she might have hoped for sympathy.

But the incident was spotted by two officials from her local "environment crime unit" on the lookout for litter offenders.

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They threatened her with arrest for refusing to give her name and fined her £75 - even though pigeons had already pecked up the morsel within seconds.

Miss Davies, 20, says she cannot afford the fine and is prepared to got to court to fight it.

She added: "I had just picked up Chloe from nursery. We were both hungry so I got us a sausage roll to share.

"I had a bite and then bent down to give a bit to Chloe, who was on her bike.

"A tiny bit missed her mouth and fell on the floor and seconds later some pigeons flew down and grabbed it.

"I crossed the road and was approached by two men. I thought they were canvassers because they were dressed in tracksuit bottoms.

"But one came up to me, said he was from the council and said I was going to be fined for dropping litter.

"He wasn't polite at all - he was rude, and I began to walk away.

"He then said I would be arrested if I didn't give him my name and details and started reading me my rights on the street.

"I felt really small and humiliated. I was treated like I was a criminal."

She added: "Where is the common sense? It was a small, bite-sized piece - just big enough for Chloe's mouth.

"I went back to take a picture of the litter, but it had been gobbled by pigeons. There was no litter there at all."

The incident happened in Hull city centre on Monday and the fine arrived in the post yesterday.

Miss Davies, who lives with her mother Wendy, 44, said: "I just can't pay out £75 for this, I have to live on benefits of £94 a week.

"The letter says I must pay within 14 days, but I haven't got the money. I would be prepared to go to court.

"I agree that people should not drop litter, but I was not dropping litter. I was just feeding my daughter, who likes sausage rolls.

"It affected her as well. She came to me after it had happened and said, 'Mummy, I was scared when those men came up to me'. It's just not right."

Her mother, who was with Miss Davies and Chloe at the time, said: "It's disgusting. The piece of sausage roll was on the floor for less than a minute.

"We tried to reason with the officers, but they didn't want to know - they weren't interested in what we had to say.

"Sarah is really worried now about how she's going to pay this money."

Hull City Council confirmed a fixed-penalty ticket had been issued by a member of its environment crime unit.

A spokesman said: "The fixed-penalty notice is the result of the mother's actions, not the child's."

It is the latest example of councils cracking down on apparently minor offences.

Earlier this week, 26-year- old bus driver Gareth Corkhill was ordered to pay £210 - a week's wages - after magistrates heard that the amount of rubbish in his wheelie bin had pushed up the lid by a few inches.

Mr Copeland, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, will have a criminal record - which he will have to disclose if he applies for a job, credit or a mortgage over the next five years.

This month, Kate Badger, a 26-year-old promotions worker from Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, saw her case for tossing an apple core out of her car thrown out of court.

She had refused to pay a £60 fine for littering, saying she was not responsible.