When VB broke the story that the Isle of Wight council hadn’t prosecuted anyone in 2010/11 who’d allowed their dogs to foul in public places without clearing it up, the reaction from readers was strong, with over 70 comments left by Islanders on VB and our Facebook page.
We felt we had to find out more for you. We were surprised at further lack of consequences for miscreant dog owners, even Fixed penalty notices (details).
From our further digging, VB has learnt that there have been no successful prosecutions on the Isle of Wight since at least 2004.
It might be for longer than that, but as the council’s online legal database doesn’t record further back than that, they cannot confirm/deny.
The one attempted prosecution failed
There was an attempted prosecution of a man for dog fouling in May 2009, but he was cleared, being found guilty of obstruction instead, for failing to give his details to investigating officers.
The council were keen to point out that “prosecutions are only undertaken as a last resort should a person refuse to pay a fixed penalty notice issued for dog fouling.”
Only one fixed penalty notice in 2010/11
So VB researched how many fixed penalty notices had been issued.
During the year 2010/11, only one was issued across the whole Island.
