The seagulls showed no mercy as they destroyed the unfortunate tourist's ice cream. Photo / iStock
The seagulls showed no mercy as they destroyed the unfortunate tourist's ice cream. Photo / iStock
An unlucky tourist was left with a hefty fine after he dropped his ice cream cone while being attacked by seagulls.
Yorkshore man Steve Higgens, 52, was strolling along a promenade on England's South Devon Coast when he "fancied an ice cream".
"I had just got one and began tocontinue my walk when I was attacked by six or seven seagulls, he told the Plymouth Herald. "I'm a tourist, I'm not used to things like that happening and it was completely unexpected."
During the attack, Mr Higgens' ice cream was completely destroyed and he was left holding only the cone, which he placed on the ground nearby.
"The attack left me really shaken-up. The gulls had taken my ice cream but had left me with the cone. I was scared that they would come back again, I was scared for my own safety."
However, it didn't end there. To add insult to injury, Mr Higgens was slapped with an £80 ($169) fine for littering.
"I was a tourist, I don't live down there, I'm not aware of these things," he said.
After the incident, he wrote a letter to 3gs, the environmental and civil enforcement company who issued the fine, debating whether dropping an ice cream cone was in fact littering.
