A former policeman from Newquay is refusing to pay a £754 fine for dog-fouling, saying: "They can send me to prison if they want."Oh, dear! Is this a case of too-zealous council officials getting the wrong man?
Well, no.
The pensioner has been fined four times since 2010, costing him £1,656, including a £100 penalty and £654 in legal costs imposed by magistrates on Friday.He knows he’s bang to rights, too.
He told the Cornish Guardian he always picked up after Henry when he saw him do his business, but eagle-eyed wardens often spotted doggy toilet trips when his back was turned.Sounds familiar. The ‘I didn’t see that, so I don’t have to pick it up’ attitude is fairly typical for a certain type of dog owner. That type being one that Mr Hobkinson fits neatly, no matter how much he might protest:
"How can I watch him every second? It's ridiculous," he said.
"I've had enough of them now. It's an absolute disgrace the way I'm being victimised here.
"I'm a responsible dog-walker – I used to be a copper and I volunteer with the National Trust as a litter-picker, for heaven's sake."And none of those things means you are exempt from cleaning up after your beast. Yes, you DO have to ‘watch it every second’. No, you’re NOT being ‘victimised’. And no you’re NOT a responsible dog walker.
Mr Hobkinson argued it was impossible to pick up dog mess on areas of the Saltings as it was so overgrown and boggy, and the tide would always come in to wash it away in any case.Yeah, yeah, yeah… Didn't you hear all those excuses when you were a cop? Did they work then?
The Hobkinson Choice has form and I am supporting him right up to the public side of the prison gates.
ReplyDeleteI'm not normally one to go down the "two wrongs make a right" path but I do question the time, effort and cost of prosecuting a pensioner over dog shit when we have all these revelations in the news lately of burglary, assault and rapes being swept under the carpet.
ReplyDeleteWe just don't have a functioning and effective justice system anymore.
I'm beginning to wonder if we ever really did.
If you're walking a dog and the dog stops and squats, the average dog owner should really have some idea of what the dog plans to do next. So you don't have to watch them every second. Only when they stop and squat.
ReplyDeleteEven so, as Tatty says, there are many more important things these officious little spies could be doing - such as tasting sewage for the tell-tale signs of smokers smoking in public toilets.
I'd be glad to tell them how.
"...but I do question the time, effort and cost of prosecuting a pensioner over dog shit.."
ReplyDeleteIt's not the original offence. It never is. It's the defiance.
"So you don't have to watch them every second. Only when they stop and squat."
But, catch 22 stylee, if you don't watch them every second, how will you know when they stop to squat? ;)