'The daftest thing I've seen in 20 years' - Council 'made a mess' of no dog fouling sign
Councillor Joan McTigue says Middlesbrough Council made a mess of the “no fouling” sign on Kirkham Row, Beechwood. She asserts the sign is too small, too high from the ground and in the wrong place.
She said: “It’s the daftest thing I’ve seen in 20 years. Fine for anybody who’s 10ft tall. I don’t know any residents who are 10ft tall. You need binoculars to read it.
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Hide Ad“That’s at least 10ft from the ground, impossible to read, pointless and the usual waste of our money. It’s taken me months to get a sign here and that’s the best they can offer. In future I’ll do the job myself.”
She said of the dog fouling on the street: “It’s been a problem for about six to eight months. It was worst I’ve seen. There were six or seven pile of it on one side of the road. I’ve counted it myself. I asked for it all to be cleaned up and it wasn’t done. I asked it to go on the left hand side where all the dog fouling is.”
Eventually a small sign was put up saying “no fouling” and “offenders will be prosecuted”, but on the other side of the road, and at a high elevation.
Coun McTigue said at first she could not spot the sign: “They kept saying, ‘it’s there’. I couldn’t see it, I went up and down, but you don’t look up in the sky for a road sign. We’ve got dog fouling signs that nobody can see.”
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Hide AdShe said the sign had not solved the dog-fouling problem: “It definitely hasn’t stopped it.”
One resident commented on the street: “Is that what it says? I haven’t got my binoculars out.”
Dog walker Michelle Gill said: “I can’t see it, can you? I didn’t even know it was there until Joan told me.”
A council spokesman said: “The council responded to a request for a sign in the area and arranged for it to be installed. Concerns relating to dog fouling can by reported online at www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/report or by calling 01642 726001.”