THE team tasked with keeping North Ayrshire tidy have warned they will take you to court if you fail to clean up after your dog.

That was the harsh warning after a man was hit with a £200 fine by the Procurator Fiscal and, just as importantly, a criminal record.

His conviction followed weeks of surveillance from the council’s Environmental Enforcement Team – along with more than a little help from local residents fed up with their neighbourhood being blighted.

The area was Sandy Road in Seamill.

Currently six more cases are pending with the Procurator Fiscal and they too could be prosecuted.

Team Leader Jim Heaney said: “The case in Seamill was a really important one as we had received many complaints from local residents. They had become sick to death of the mess and the attitude the man had towards it. We monitored the area for a month and it became clear that the mess was from his dog.

“Ideally we don’t want to take anyone to court. That is always a last-case scenario. But he simply wouldn’t comply and wouldn’t even provide his name and address, which is also an offence.

“We had a strong case against him and he was ultimately fined £100 for failing to clean up after his dog and another £100 for failing to identify himself.

“As well as those fines, we invoiced him for the cost of officers time cleaning his dog’s mess. Overall it’s been a costly exercise for him.”

The area has now been mess free for a number of weeks and that’s been the most satisfying part of the whole case.

Jim added: “It’s a matter of respect. A respect for other people and a respect for the community that live there.

“We are really determined to eradicate this problem as much as we can. It’s totally unnecessary and things have to change. We would envisage that 99.999 per cent of people agree with us on that.”

All complaints can be made at EnvironmentalEnforcementTeam@north-ayrshire. gov.uk and will be taken seriously.