REGARDING your article about dog fouling (Star, February 25) I fully agree that all irresponsible people who allow their dogs to foul public places should be dealt with.

But I was concerned about Councillor Ward's comment when he said that "people should report incidents of dog fouling to the dog warden with a formal statement, and legal action could be considered."

This could be open to abuse and anyone with a grudge against someone could report them to the dog warden and punishment could result, guilty or not.

I write from experience. Around Christmas time my sister was approached by a very sarcastic dog warden in the Hard Lane cemetery area who said that someone had reported her for alleged dog fouling some three weeks earlier. He was very aggressive, upsetting her and made her sign some kind of statement.

Despite complaints to his superior, she was fined £25 for an offence she did not commit. She is a very considerate dog owner and was punished on the say-so of some sad person who has taken a dislike to her walking her dog on 'their patch' near the cemetery.

My sister should have gone to court to dispute what had happened to her, but she obviously felt that the system was against her, so she just paid the fine.

A dog warden is only a public servant and he should not be allowed to bully vulnerable people into signing things without having seen the offence himself, or without 'physical' evidence of an offence provided by a plaintiff.

Concerned (name and address supplied).

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