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Duck feeding fine is dropped
Wednesday 18th November 2009, 11:30AM GMT.
A mother fined for feeding the ducks with her young son in the Black Country is to have her penalty revoked, it has been revealed today.
Vanessa Kelly’s £75 fine will be dropped along with similar penalties imposed on six other people in Smethwick Hall Park.
The story hit the headlines last week as the Express & Star revealed the outraged mother was given the littering fine by a council warden.
New Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper branded the charges “over the top”. He said new warning signs would now be installed in the park and they would be taking a “common sense approach”.
But he warned that wardens wearing head cameras will be on patrol at the Londonderry Lane park and once new signs telling people of the potential charges are put up, there would be a three warnings approach.
Councillor Cooper said: “I am determined to do whatever it takes to clean up Sandwell because our residents constantly tell us parts of the borough are dirty.
“We will take a common sense approach to this matter and for this reason we will not pursue payment for Vanessa Kelly’s Fixed Penalty Notice while we improve signs at Smethwick Hall Park.
“The new signs will make it abundantly clear that feeding of waterfowl is not allowed at all in this park and that anyone observed feeding the geese and any other birds will receive a fixed penalty notice.
“We will also not be pursuing payment of fines given to six other people for feeding wildfowl at Smethwick Hall Park. Two people who have already paid fines will be refunded their money.”
Ms Kelly, aged 26, of Marshall Road, Oldbury, said she was pleased with the decision. She said: “It means I don’t have to go to court which is a relief because I would have done. I was ready to fight it all the way.
“At the end of the day the council didn’t have a leg to stand on because the signs did not say you could get fined, but it is a relief it’s all sorted.”
Councillor Cooper said anyone wanting to feed the ducks could do so in either West Smethwick Park, Victoria Park in Tipton and Victoria Park in Smethwick.
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hallelujah!!!!
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Sense prevails. With new appropriately labelled signs everybody knows where they stand. Could Sandwell finally have the Council Leader they need ?
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Common sense has prevailed to a point. Is it really going to be enforceable to fine people at this park and not others?
Oh yes, nearly forgot folks. Let us wait for the normal tirade from Connor Davies on this outcome, just hope it isn’t another “War & Peace” attempt!
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So how much money has been wasted on this? How much stress has this person been put through? Who now foots the bill? I bet its you and me in the end…DISGUSTING! It should never have happened…
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Councillor Cooper said anyone wanting to feed the ducks could do so in either West Smethwick Park, Victoria Park in Tipton and Victoria Park in Smethwick
Err can anyone explain the difference in those parks to ther 1 in question. BIZARRE
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if sandwell council intend on cleaning up the borough they should start with the dog owners who keep letting their dogs foul the footpaths in ridding lane and mounts road wednesbury.
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“We will take a common sense approach to this matter …….he warned that wardens wearing head cameras will be on patrol”
common sense, and wearing head cams to catch duck feeders, in the same statement seems to be a bit of a contradiction. I trust these same wardens will be carrying poop a scoop to clean up the droppings left by the geese?
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What a waste of time and money by a council which has no idea .
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Top news and thank you Sandwell for putting my faith back in you.
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It’s no surprise that the council have given different rules for different parks concerning the same activity.The next valuable use of our council tax will probably be a survey to find which ducks are meat-eaters,and which are vegetarian.New guidelines and feeding zones will apply for each type.Anyone breaking the rules will be sent to the Amazonian jungle to study wildlife.You couldn’t make it up.
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Ms. Kelly, well done! Having been through similar I can sympathise. The worry this sort of bullying causes is tremendous. The Councils are there to SERVE us, not intimidate us, we do pay their salaries and expenses. Everyone wants a clean town, but there are ways and means without threats. Instead of wardens, use litter collectors. A job is a job when all is said and done and they create a feel good factor amongst the public. Darren Cooper shows an awareness of the scale of £75 fines for such relative trivia. Well done to him too.
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Why is it always up to the papers or local radio to have to get involved before councillors decide to do there job properly.
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I am glad Miss Kelly wont now be fined My eldest daughter is 38 and I have taken her and her 2 sisters when they were children to the park to feed the ducks as I have been doing with my grandaughter.
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Common sense prevails!
Locals now need to be concentrating on removing elements that are attracting these rats such as household waste, composting, garden wildlife feeding.
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Common sense prevails. Stupid Council. All this for nothing. Now they’ll spend loads of dosh getting swanky signs done, I hope they get lots of quote and pick the cheapest….
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No3 Woody. Great ! You have given me the best laugh I’ve had today. I think Connor is still tired from reading his sociology notes to complete yesterdays epic, but will no doubt be giving us the next diatribe later. Like the war and peace ref but I think he’s attempting to rework all of Tolstoy!
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12. Exactly what I was thinking. All of a sudden we have talk of a new leader, a new approach..Obama did the same, enough of them fell for it, too.
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“wardens wearing head cameras will be on patrol”
I’ve followed this one. Call me old fashioned but if some council employee in a costume walked up to me and asked me my name and address and handed me a £75 “fine”, I’d still be laughing.
The Big Brother State doesn’t have to enforce the “laws”. Just assuming you’ll get into trouble for not immediately complying with it is enough to have most people tugging their forelocks to anyone who wears a costume in public.
Just tell them to **** off. It always works for me. You are free the moment you decide you are free.
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The difference is the Canadian Geese, that live in Smethwick Hall Park pond, and the council would like out of that area, preferably in the Sandwell Valley, but sadly even the mighty control freaks at the Council can’t control nature, as much as they try.
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Shame on you Sandwell , this officer who represents you has bought the council into disrepute he should be dismissed immediately
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These Wardens do a fantastic job of patrolling the streets and gathering infomation to be shared with other agencies i.e police, they also provide security to families and elderly who feel intimidated by youths being abusive and drinking on the streets by their powers to confiscate alcohol in dificult situations, so its not all about littering fines….
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Here’s a copy of an email that I have just sent to Sandwell council, via their website:
———————–
Dear councillors,
I’m so glad that you have found some common sense from somewhere, and ceased your ridiculous and draconian persecution of a mother who was helping her child feed the ducks. I would bet that you have absolutely no comprehension whatsoever of the ridiculous light that you have cast yourselves in throughout the whole of Britain. The last time I can remember the country talking about petty, Nazi-style bureaucrats in this way was a few years ago, when Nottingham city council wardens physically marched a pensioner to a cash point machine and robbed her of a cash fixed penalty simply because she was feeding the birds in her local park with a few crumbs from her sandwich wrapper. I’m sure you’re really proud to be thought of in the same company as those fine, upstanding gentlemen. Their excuse was that feeding wildlife encouraged vermin. Perhaps, given your extremely tough actions, Sandwell should now be thought of as the vermin-infestation capital of the UK? As far as I can see, the only place where Sandwell has a problem with vicious, unpleasant vermin is in its council chambers.
Yours sincerely,
Keith Ballard
Aylesbury
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Am I missing something here, but when I was just a young lad I loved being took to the park to feed birds and learn about nature! What has happened is just crazy, all parties involved need their heads banging together, pure stupid! Give someone a uniform these days and they become powercrazed like Hitler Youth.
If you want to wear a uniform that means something join the Police, Fire Bde, Army, Navy or Air Force, I did.
Regards
Si Hughes
Richmond North Yorkshire
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21. I respect your enthusiasm, however I think it is largely misguided. Look at what’s happened here, it’s a disgrace. This warden wasn’t stopping youths being abusive, either (surely it’s not just youths who do that). Along with the bad signing there was an apparent lack of discretion as well as common sense. You want to see people causing problems? Litter? Drinking and anti-social behaviour? Walk around Tipton especially when the shiny new police station closes. No, I don’ think it’s not all about waiting to pounce on people in the daytime either..it’s also about milking the figures and making a profit in the process.
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