Police officer confiscates 27 daffodils from children who picked them in public park for Mother’s Day

A police officer confiscated daffodils from two children who picked them in a public park for Mother’s Day.

David Taylor said Mother’s Day was ruined by the officer, who took the flowers from his daughters Rosemary, 10, and Emily, five, after they picked them at Berryhill Park in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

He was bringing the girls to visit his mother when they spotted the daffodils.

They asked if they could pick some for their mother and their grandmother, and ended up taking 27 daffodils.

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When they returned to their car, they were approached by a female police officer who told Mr Taylor he had committed a criminal offence, as the flowers had been picked from council property.

It is illegal to pick flowers in council parks.

Mr Taylor, from Forest Fields, Nottinghamshire, said: ‘We were just on the way to my mum’s and the girls asked if they could pick some flowers for their gran and mum.

‘We turned around to go back to the car and a police officer was stood there and said we shouldn’t be doing that.

‘I said I understood where she was coming from but there are hundreds by the side of the road there.’

In a clip of the incident filmed by Mr Taylor, he tells the officer: ‘We were picking flowers for Mother’s Day, not bothering anybody.

‘It’s public land, but this police officer decided to take them off my children.’

When the officer tells him he has committed an offence, Mr Taylor replies: ‘Picking flowers off of public land? They’re not endangered, they’re not rare.

‘I think you’re disgusting, taking flowers off children while they’re picking them.

‘Haven’t you got anything better to do, rather that harassing children?’

Mr Taylor said later: ‘She explained it was illegal and then took the flowers off the girls which upset them and is why I started filming it.

‘I respect the police and the law but I feel like it could have been dealt with a bit better with some common sense.’

‘It ruined Mother’s Day for the girls because they were looking forward to taking the flowers back to their mum when I dropped them off.’

Mr Taylor, who is separated from the girls’ mother, said he would have paid a fine to keep the daffodils.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said the confiscated flowers had been taken to a care home.

‘An officer spotted a family picking flowers from a council maintained verge near Berryhill Park, Mansfield,’ they said.

‘The officer provided the family with some advice about picking flowers, and the matter was not taken any further.

‘A bunch of 27 flowers were taken to a nearby care home so they did not go to waste.’