Council chiefs are being urged to ‘sort out’ how by-laws are enforced in the borough’s parks following claims of increasing tension between dog owners and NSL enforcement officers.
NSL is contracted by the authority to enforce local by-laws but, according to some councillors, park signs warning of the rules are either ‘vandalised, removed or lack clarity’.
In October, a dog walker revealed that she was fined £75 after she let her 12- year-old Jack Russell off the lead on a small patch of grass – known as St George’s Gardens – opposite Sainsburys on Lord Street. The surprised pet owner claimed that due to a lack of signs in the area, she was unaware of the rules.
Meanwhile, in January, council chiefs withdrew a £50 fine handed out to a Bootle pensioner who was walking her dog on a lead deemed to be ‘too long’.
Maureen Sanders, 80, was taking Soren, a rescue dog, around Bootle Cemetery. But when she went to leave the cemetery she was stopped by two officers from NSL.
They told the shocked woman, who has mobility issues, that the dog lead needed to be shorter than two metres and she was issued on the spot with a fixed penalty notice.
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