‘Busybody’ councils issue more on-the-spot penalties for dog offences than ANY other misdemeanour

Councils are slapping dog owners with outsized numbers of on-the-spot fines across Britain, a damning new report has revealed.

A survey of more than 320 town halls by civil liberties group the Manifesto Club revealed that more councils issued penalty notices for dog-related offences than any other type of misdemeanour.

The penalties, issued under Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), can reach up to £1,000 on prosecution – or £100 for an on-the-spot fine – and have been handed out for entering so-called “no-dog zones” and having the animals off leads in designated areas.

But many of these areas had “confusing signage” and were enforced by private security guards, the report found.

New offences introduced by councils include not carrying dog bags and restrictions on the number of dogs that can be walked simultaneously.

These new dog-related penalties are being enforced at “a far higher level than dog fouling, for which fines are consistently low,” the report says.

Councils can ban various activities in public spaces through PSPOs, including entering designated no-dog zones and having dogs off leads in specific areas.

And the number of fines has surged by 42 per cent in just one year, rising from 13,443 in 2022 to 19,162 in 2023.

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This marks a dramatic increase from 10,413 in 2019 – and a staggering jump on 470 fines in 2015.

Bizarrely, the penalties were unevenly distributed, with 145 local authorities issuing no fines at all, while 50 councils handed out five or fewer.

London boroughs dominated the top spots for issuing penalties, with Harrow leading at 3,919 fines, followed by Redbridge with 3,550 and Hillingdon with 3,060.

The rise in penalties has been linked to the growing use of private enforcement companies, who receive a percentage of each fine issued.

The 39 councils employing private enforcement firms issued 14,633 penalties, while the 261 councils without such arrangements handed out just 4,529 penalties.

Private enforcement officers in Redbridge issued 3,016 penalties for spitting alone, along with fines for drinking alcohol and distributing leaflets.

In Hillingdon, private officers issued 2,335 penalties for “idling” – a previously unpunished offence – plus hundreds more for spitting and motorised electric vehicles.

Only two of the top 10 fine-issuing councils, Durham and Brent, did not use private enforcement companies.

Josie Appleton, the report’s author, ripped into the system as a result.

“The PSPO is clearly not fit for purpose,” Appleton said.

“This is a blank-cheque power that allows single council officers to write their own laws – now these laws are being enforced by private wardens who are paid per fine.”

She warned this was “a recipe for catch-all crimes and rampant injustice”, and has called for the power to be “scrapped, or substantially reformed, to ensure that it is used proportionately and fairly, and does not intrude upon people’s right to use public spaces”.