why worry? if he is exempt then he has no need to worry and he only needed to explain this to you.....

Email which arrived today:

The exemption of been over 65 we are unaware of.

The only exemptions we know of is for disability, I.e. if they are unable to physically pick up the waste.

Thank you for your enquiry
Jamie
Doncaster Council
customer.services@doncaster.gov.uk

but anyone could say this! "oh, I'm reg disabled..."

how do they define this?

If you are exempt I would think that after they have been complained about they would check the dept. work and pensions records to see if this is true? Otherwise I am unsure how they would know if someone could/could not pick up....

The question I asked was about pensioners as a poster stated that pensioners were exempt from picking up after their dogs.

Evidently according to the relevant council this is not the case.

I did not concern myself about disabilities.

That's horrible and so unnecessary! What a fruitcake.

Yes I think you're right. Thanks

I think it's strange and ambigous as even thought this bloke was walking with a stick he was striding along and you can get those plastic pooper-scooper shovel things to carry so you don't have to bend down. After all, he had his other arm free as his dog wasn't on a lead!

Also, as I work for the Department for Work and Pensions I think it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to gain access to sensitive information about someone's illnesses or the reason why they were eligible for sickness benefits, even to a council representitive.

Well didn't he have a bee in his bonnet, what a twit. You did the right thing. He had no right to speak to you in that manner and if you felt intimidated you had every right to speak to the police about him.

We noticed it at Strensall, even though the people there know there are troop manouvers (sp) in the area they still won't pick up. The amount of times we had to go and clean a cadet up after they had found they lay or stood in something was getting silly. So the poor kids had to contend with adders, killer badgers (okay, one killer badger - well our CSM was convinced the badger was after him anyway), and little disgusting landmines all over the joint...and it wasn't the type that went ka-boom.

Gross. Thank goodness most of the adults have anti-bacterial stuff on us all the time.

Wouldn't showing the Council their DLA letter stating the mobility component be sufficient?

Sounds like the guy was a prat and probably made it all up, but you never can tell. Even so, his dog should have been on lead or at the very least under close control which it obviously wasn't and neither was the guy's mouth. Verbal abuse is unnecessary and uncalled for. Obviously you hit a nerve

Yes-I think you're right.

UPDATE-today I spoke to the council again and asked what they had done regarding my complaint. Answer is they had sent a sub-contracter out to collect the poop-even though I had told them I had been back and bagged it as I thought the dog warden may have wanted it for evidence.

I said that the police had been in touch with me about what they were doing re the abuse and I wanted to know what they were doing re the poop issue and could I speak to the dog warden?

They said the dog warden didn't deal with this issue; only stray dogs but they would pass my complaint on to the neighbourhood wardens. Literally five minutes after speaking to them one of the neighbourhood warden team rang me back and I discussed with him what had happened.

He said they couldn't send someone round and the police had already been to see him. I replied I knew that but the Police had told me they couldn't deal with the dog-fouling issue as it was the council's responsibility. I said I didn't expect them to visit but this man should have something sent him in writing so he knows he was incorrect in saying he did not have to clear up after his dog (which they confirmed was not true-he was not exempt). They said they would send out a letter stating this and warning him of the consequences should he continue to let his dog foul and not clear up after it.

Hurrah-result! Shouldn't have to hassle people to get anywhere but sadly you do sometimes.

Good for you for pursuing it, these sort of people shouldnt be allowed to get away with it