A DOG walker got a £145 bill because he did not clean up when his dog fouled a grass verge.

Malcolm Wilkinson, 66, pleaded guilty and was fined £75 and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

In a prosecution brought by Chorley Council, the court was told that a council officer saw Wilkinson walking with another man and two dogs, both off their leads.

The officer saw one of the dogs, a brown and white Staffordshire bull terrier, foul at the foot of a tree on the grass verge of the canal towpath and both men carried on walking without picking up the mess, South Ribble Magistrates Court heard. The officer approached Wilkinson, of Birch Road in Chorley, and told him what he had seen.

Wilkinson said he was unaware his dog had done anything and he initially said he would clean it up if shown the location.

The court heard that it was still an offence even if the dog owner was unaware and, when he was issued with a fixed penalty notice, he refused to pick it up.

He twice challenged the notice insisting he would have cleaned it up if he had been shown where it was.

Coun Adrian Lowe, who tackles dog fouling for Chorley Council, said: “It is the dog owners’ responsibility to clean up after their pets and they are still guilty of the offence even if they are unaware of what their dog has done.

“Leaving dog waste in public areas is just not acceptable in any circumstances.

“People can walk in it and it’s unsightly, but more importantly it can transmit diseases both to other animals and to people and can even cause blindness.

“As part of our ongoing Don’t Be a Dirty Dog campaign to educate people to be responsible dog owners, we will always issue a fixed penalty notice to people we find not picking up after their pet.”