A WOMAN is urging dog owners in Launceston to clear up after their pets, as she often has ‘no choice but to drive through’ the mess in her wheelchair.

Charlie Hockaday-Williams, a dog owner herself, who lives at Stourscombe, goes out several times a week to exercise her own dogs, Dixie and Alba.

Once a week she goes to St Stephens, crossing through Race Hill and Newport. Charlie and her wife, Sophie, also regularly go to Coronation Park and to the Pennygillam estate.

She said: “Every day we go out there is dog mess. Mess left on a Monday for example will still be there on a Tuesday and it will remain there until it rains and is naturally broken down. There’s also occasions where some will go to the extent of picking up the mess but will leave the bag full of it there in its place.

“The only time it does get picked up is if it’s outside someone’s garden gate and the home owners pick it up.”

Charlie is wheelchair bound, adding she is in her electric wheelchair ‘from the second I wake to the second I go back to bed’. She uses the same wheelchair indoors and outside.

She added: “With Launceston pavements being as narrow as they are, there being very little drop kerbs and cars parked here there and everywhere, when I’m going down a pavement and come across some mess I have no choice but to drive through it. I can’t steer around it as there’s no spare pavement and I can’t just pop into the road.

“When I get home, because I use the rear entrance I then have to go through my kitchen to get to the living room to finally be able to transfer onto my sofa. My wife then has to take my wheelchair back out to the back garden to clean the wheels off for me to be able to continue using my chair.

“I hate having to use a wheelchair as it is, so to have to go through this every time I go out, it really puts me off leaving my own home.”

Charlie took to social media about the issue, and some people suggested she should contact Cornwall Council.

She emailed the council’s dog welfare and enforcement officer, Richard Downing, who said the areas she had mentioned were patrolled, adding: “However, should you know who the culprits are, please let me know.”

Charlie said: “Even if I was to see someone walking away from the mess their dog had just left, I wouldn’t know who they were, or where they lived so I would never have been able to give the dog welfare and enforcement officer the appropriate information to be able to fine them. There would never be an end result of the culprits being fined and there would never be anyone cleaning up our streets.

“I mean, if I can pick up after our dogs being sat three foot above the ground then surely anyone can do it. I hate to think what their gardens at home look like as if they aren’t able to pick up after their dogs, surely it would be horrendous.

“I was hoping that with contacting the council, even if they couldn’t catch the culprits, they could at least come around the streets regularly to clean the pavements. Yes, it would cost the council, but surely with the fact they have street cleaners anyhow it shouldn’t take much more to clean the pavements also?

“What worries me is that, these areas are areas that have children. If these children fall, their hand go into dog mess and their parents don’t see that it’s there, hands then go in mouths, eyes and who knows where else — it could blind them and more. I know myself that if it was my child, and they became blind because of someone’s pure laziness I would be fuming. It’s unjustifiable. There’s no excuse. Owning a dog has responsibilities, if you can’t match them you shouldn’t have that pet in your life.

“What people need to realise is that every time I get poo on my wheels it makes me want to leave my home less and less each time. I don’t want to go out if I know my wife won’t be there when I get home to clean it off for me. Not only does this then mean that I lose what little independence I have, but it’s also unpleasant for my wife. She shouldn’t have to sit there picking it out of my tyres. Something needs to be done. It can’t continue. It’s disgusting.”

A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: “Cornwall Council has a zero tolerance approach to dog fouling. General waste bins can be used to dispose of bagged dog waste so there are more than sufficient waste bins for dog owners to deposit the poo.

“Members of the public who do not pick up after their dogs face a fine of up to £1,000 or can received a fixed penalty of £80 in order to discharge the offence. To report dog fouling please call 0300 1234212 or report it via the council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk/reportit

“The council’s Dog Welfare and Enforcement Service responds to complaints of dog fouling and will investigate. We also undertake pro-active patrols of known fouling hot spots to encourage dog owners to pick up after their pets.

“Whilst we only have a limited number of Dog Welfare and Enforcement Officers, there are a number of other officers who are able to issue fixed penalties (many of which are not uniformed officers) as well as most PCSOs.

“We also provide DEFRA approved training to town and parish council employees to enable and authorise them to issue dog fouling fixed penalty notices.”