COUNCIL chiefs have been forced to apologise and pay compensation after failing to take enough action following a series of dog attacks.
Brighton and Hove City Council received 450 complaints about dogs over five years, but did not hand out a single community protection notice (CPN).
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman slammed the city council for “consistently applying the wrong test when dealing with reports/incidents involving dogs".
In the most recent case, the council issued an apology and £100 compensation to a man, known as Mr X in the Ombudsman’s report, after he and his dog were attacked by the same dog several times.
Mr X first made a report to the council about a dog attack in March 2019.
He told the council his dog had been bitten twice by a dog and there had been other incidents where the same animal had tried to bite his dog.
The council’s animal warden team investigated the report, but decided there was not enough evidence to take legal action, issue a formal warning, or a caution.
Mr X made three further reports to the council following subsequent attacks by the same dog and provided CCTV footage of an incident in October 2019, yet a caution was not issued.
- READ MORE >>> Sussex dog attack warning as cost to farmers is revealed
- READ MORE >>> Sussex mother horrified as daughter thrown off pony in dog chase
In April 2020, the council admitted it had not watched the CCTV footage and the ombudsman found that there was “no evidence the council made any other attempts to access the footage".
The watchdog found the council had applied “the wrong test when considering whether to issue a CPN".
It said the council should have referred to the government issued Dealing with Irresponsible Dog Ownership: Practitioners’ Manual, which sets out the criteria for issuing a CPN for incidents involving dogs, when considering Mr X’s claim.
The ombudsman found that the fault had caused “an injustice to Mr X and the wider public".
In a statement, Brighton and Hove City Council said it accepted the findings of the report.
A spokesman said: “As per the Ombudsman’s recommendations, we are reviewing our working practices to make sure this does not happen again.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel