He sat back and anxiously waited for the phone to ring but he was shocked when he received a call from the council threatening him with a £1,000 fine.
The 44-year-old was issued with a 48-hour ‘remove or pay up’ ultimatum by Bedfordshire Borough Council, which accused him of ‘fly-posting’.
Mr Harding was forced to drive around in the early hours, ripping down his 20 lost-cat posters to avoid the penalty.
He put them up in November in a last-ditch attempt to locate seven-year-old Wookie, who had then been missing for six weeks.
‘It was a shock,’ said Mr Harding. ‘I’m a law abiding citizen and I’ve not even got so much as a speeding ticket, and I’m being threatened to be fined £1,000 for looking for my cat.
‘You would think the council would have some compassion.’
After returning from work on December 23, Mr Harding drove all over Bedford taking the posters down before the council’s deadline, and eventually got home at 3am.
The local authority has defended its actions, claiming the posters could cause environmental damage.
‘As well as damaging trees, fly-posting is also illegal and may lead to fines of up to £1,000,’ a spokesman for the council said.
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/851657-pet-owner-threatened-with-1-000-fine-for-missing-cat-posters#ixzz1A46ZI8cn
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What a useless gang of "Jobsworth" cretins.
ReplyDeleteThey persecute a decent guy who wants to recover his missing cat, but I would put money on it that these same morons will be doing little or nothing about yobs covering the pavements with chewing gum, or brain dead idiots annoying and distressing their neighbours with the stench of cannabis and loud noise late at night.