A woman was arrested in handcuffs on a busy London high street after allegedly refusing to stop feeding pigeons and declining to give her personal details to council officers, in an incident that has since gone viral online. The arrest took place on Wednesday, 7 January, on Wealdstone High Street in Harrow, where council enforcement officers accused the woman, who is in her 40s and has not been named, of breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). The order prohibits feeding birds and vermin in designated areas and is enforced across parts of the UK to curb anti-social behaviour, protect businesses and keep streets clean. According to Harrow Council, the woman was seen “throwing bread on the floor” to feed pigeons. Council officers attempted to issue her with a fixed penalty notice of £100, payable within 28 days, but said she repeatedly refused to provide her name and address and declined to stop feeding the birds when asked. Under the PSPO, failure to comply can result in a £100 fine or prosecution, with penalties of up to £1,000. Police from the Metropolitan Police were called to the scene. In footage filmed by a passer-by and uploaded to a YouTube auditing channel called The Fool Catcher, the woman can be seen crying as she is handcuffed and surrounded by council officers and police. At one point, the man filming can be heard saying: “For feeding the pigeons? This is ridiculous! You could have just told the lady not to do that and let her go on with her business.” In the video, a female officer searches the woman’s pockets, placing her belongings into plastic bags. The woman is then escorted towards a police van. The same footage later shows paperwork stating she was issued a £100 fixed penalty notice for “throwing bread on the floor,” with a warning that failure to pay within 28 days could result in a summons to appear in a magistrates’ court. Police said the arrest was not for feeding pigeons itself, but for refusing to provide details when lawfully required. In a statement, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “At around 14:30hrs on Wednesday, January 7 officers were approached by local council enforcement officers dealing with an anti-social behaviour incident on Wealdstone High Street, Harrow. “A woman, in her 40s, was repeatedly asked to provide her name and address so that a fixed penalty notice could be issued. After speaking with officers for around 20 minutes, she repeatedly refused to provide her personal details. She was arrested on suspicion of breaching Section 50 of the Police Reform Act, which requires people to provide their name and address when requested to do so by the police.”
She was given a fixed penalty notice for allegedly ‘throwing bread on the floor’ (YouTube/The Fool Catcher)
The spokesperson added that the woman later provided her details, after which she was de-arrested and “dealt with by council officers”. Harrow Council confirmed the sequence of events in a separate statement, saying: “There was a breach of the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) relating to bird feeding. The individual refused to provide their details, which is an offence, and also refused to stop feeding pigeons when asked to do so. Our PSPO is in place to help keep our streets clean and safe for everyone and anyone found breaching these faces a £100 fixed penalty notice.” The incident has prompted widespread debate online, with viewers questioning whether the enforcement response was proportionate, while authorities maintain the arrest followed repeated refusals to comply with a lawful request.
