Passenger, 77, at Aussie airport fined $3,300 for sandwich in bag
Officials say a permit was required to legally bring the sandwich into Australia.
A New Zealand grandmother who was slapped with a whopping A$3,300 fine for travelling to Australia with an uneaten chicken sandwich in her bag said the ordeal reduced her to tears.
June Armstrong, 77, claims she flew from Christchurch to Brisbane in May of this year without realising she had the sandwich with her. Armstrong said that when she touched down in Queensland, airport officials hit her with the fine for breaching Australian border restrictions.
New Zealand grandmother 'in tears' after $3,300 fine
The grandmother said she expected some leniency for her "moment of forgetfulness", and that the fine has made a significant impact on her life.
Having attempted to appeal the fine online, after she claimed one border patrol worker at Brisbane Airport “strongly advised” she do so, Armstrong said she only received generic automatic replies in response. She was given 28 days in total to appeal.
Armstrong said that given her sole income stems from her pension, she's spent many sleepless nights worrying about how she's going to pay the bill.
“My husband kept saying, ‘Just pay it.’ I said, ‘It’s our pension, we can’t afford this’," Armstrong told The New Zealand Herald, revealing she eventually just copped the fine on the chin.
Armstrong — who failed to declare the sandwich as she had forgotten about it—claimed that since paying, she sent a follow-up email asking why she was fined when it was her first infringement, and why the penalty was so high, arguing that the sandwich was sealed.
Aussie officials stand by penalty
A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said she required a permit to bring the goods into the country, and that even vacuum-sealed items are not allowed.
“Meat has strict import conditions which can change quickly based on disease outbreaks,” the spokeswoman said. “Uncanned meats, including vacuum-sealed items, are not allowed into Australia unless accompanied by an import permit.
“Where travellers fail to declare risk items they may be given an infringement notice up to $6,260.
“All food products must be declared on arrival and may be inspected to ensure they comply with import conditions. Items that do not meet these conditions are not permitted into Australia.”
Stranger's kind act
In a heartwarming twist, Armstrong has since been told that a kind stranger has offered to foot the bill for her fine.
"I just can’t believe that a stranger would do that for you. I mean, he said to me, ‘I’ve got the money’ but that isn’t the point – he must have a good heart too,” she told New Zealand’s 1News.
"He’s a giver and he deserves everything he’s got."
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