THE more Bolton Council insist that dog owners are not being hounded, the more dubious I become. May I ask the chairman Cllr Eric Johnson to reply, through your letters page, to this scenario?

Suppose I am in Brackley Street, Farnworth, with my dog and one of his patrols spots my dog defecating and he/she accosts me and, to enable me to talk to him/her, I remove a piece of chewing gum and throw it on the pavement. I then refuse to remove the dog dirt and he/she reports me. Then, in a temper, I throw the bottle I have been drinking from onto the ground, which shatters, which is also witnessed by the dog patrol.

I then go into the chip shop and bring a carton outside and eat my meal on one of the forms. I then leave part of my meal on the pavement and the dog patrol sees me do this, as he/she is walking up and down.

I have then committed four offences in full view of an official. Would he/she charge me with all four, or, as I suspect, say "nothing to do with me, I'm in the dog patrol, dogs only that's me".

If this be the case, then dog owners are being victimised. Let's go a step further -- prosecute the people who feed the pigeons at the bottom of Brackley Street; if they don't get fed they will soon be off.

A Leach

Plodder Lane,

Farnworth

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