Fines/dogs/complaints - revisited

Mr Figg made this Freedom of Information request to Isle of Wight Council

The request was successful.

From: Mr Figg

19 August 2010

Dear Isle of Wight Council,

I would like to request how many fines your dog wardens have issued
in the Ryde area during the period 15th of October 2008 and 14th
October 2009, the offences they were issued for and whether you
have received complaints regarding the issuing of the individual
fines.

I initially submitted this request to you on 14th October 2009
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...
You refused to supply the information on the grounds the Council
had dealt with similar requests the sixty working days prior to my
request. Therefore I am once again requesting the information as at
least sixty working days have now expired and I still require the
information which I am as legally entitled to now as I was then.
Should you refuse again I will produce that previous request as
part of my evidence to the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Figg

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From: Rowling, Dan
Isle of Wight Council

15 September 2010

Dear Mr Figg

In relation to your request for information as detailed below and received
on 20th August 2010:

Details: I would like to request how many fines your dog wardens have
issued
in the Ryde area during the period 15th of October 2008 and 14th
October 2009, the offences they were issued for and whether you
have received complaints regarding the issuing of the individual
fines.
The Isle of Wight Councils Dog Warden Service issue Fixed Penalty Notices,
not fines. You can contact the Magistrates Courts on the Isle Of Wight who
may be able to supply you this information. If you would like information
relating to notices issued by the Council, please can you clarify this to
me in writing at your earliest convenience.

If I do not hear from you in the next 30 days, I will consider this
request closed.

Kind regards

Dan Rowling| Operations Coordinator | Community Safety Services
Isle of Wight Council | 14 St Thomas's Square | Charter House | Newport |
Isle of Wight | PO30 1SL
Tel: (01983) 821000
Email: [email address] | Web: [1]www.iwight.com

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From: Mr Figg

17 September 2010

Dear Isle of Wight Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Isle of Wight
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Fines/dogs/complaints -
revisited'.

I am requesting a review of the handling of my request for
information as the person who has handled this request, Dan
Rowling, has deliberately attempted to obstruct my legitimate
request made under the FOI Act.

In his reply Dan Rowling has stated:

"The Isle of Wight Councils Dog Warden Service issue Fixed Penalty
Notices, not fines. You can contact the Magistrates Courts on the
Isle Of Wight who may be able to supply you this information. If
you would like information relating to notices issued by the
Council, please can you clarify this to me in writing at your
earliest convenience."

My use of the word "fine" in making the request was based on
guidance from the Defra website which clearly refers to the amount
of the "fine" in relation to a Fixed Penalty Notice

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/qual...

Legislation & enforcement

Prescribed forms

"Any fixed penalty notice form designed for use for litter or dog
fouling offences must continue to meet the basic requirements set
out under section 88(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 –
the form must specify the particulars of the offence, the period
during which further action will not be taken, the amount of the
fine and who it may be paid to"

I addition the Isle of Wight Councils own website also exclusively
refers to the amount of the "fine" in relation to a Fixed Penalty
Notice

http://www.iwight.com/home/council_fees/...

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL DOG SERVICE
FEES AND CHARGES 2010/11

Dog Fouling Fixed Penalty Fine £75.00*
Dogs off lead Fixed Penalty Fine £75.00*
Prohibited Beaches Fixed Penalty Fine £75.00*

*All three will only incur a fine of £50.00 if paid within 10 days.

If the Isle of Wight Council are committed to delivering an open
and transparent service, as is the intention of the FOI Act, the
pedantic attempts of Dan Rowling at hindering the requester are
acting to the detriment of the Council.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Figg

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From: Rowling, Dan
Isle of Wight Council

21 September 2010

Dear Mr Figg

Please see below response to your request for information via email.

CRM reference number iw10/8/34520.

Details: I would like to request how many fines your dog wardens have
issued
in the Ryde area during the period 15th of October 2008 and 14th
October 2009, the offences they were issued for and whether you
have received complaints regarding the issuing of the individual
fines.
The Dog Wardens have issued one Fixed Penalty Notice in the area and
period stated. This was for the offence Allowing a Dog to Enter or Remain
in a Dog Exclusion Area under The Dogs Exclusion (Isle of Wight) Order
2008. A complaint was received regarding the issuing of this Fixed Penalty
Notice.

Additional information:
The Isle of Wight Council did employ at that time Environment and
Neighbourhood Officers who had the delegated authority to issue Fixed
Penalty Notices for the same dog related offences that the Dog Wardens
have. During the time period quoted by yourself: Five Fixed Penalty
Notices were issued in the area specified, all of which for the offence
Failing to Remove Dog Faeces Forthwith under The Fouling of Land by Dogs
(Isle of Wight) Order 2008. No complaints were received regarding the
issuing of these Fixed Penalty Notices.

I believe that this letter deals fully with all the matters you have
raised. If you remain dissatisfied with the responses given to your
requests for information, please write to the Corporate Information Unit
at County Hall, or complete the on-line appeals form that can be found at
www.iwight.com/information. If your complaint is not resolved to your
complete satisfaction, you have the ultimate right, once you have
exhausted the internal appeals process, to appeal to the Information
Commissioner.

If we do not hear further within two weeks of receipt of this letter then
we will assume that you are happy for the matters to be considered closed.

Kind regards

Dan Rowling| Operations Coordinator | Community Safety Services
Isle of Wight Council | 14 St Thomas's Square | Charter House | Newport |
Isle of Wight | PO30 1SL
Tel: (01983) 821000
Email: [email address] | Web: [1]www.iwight.com

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From: Mr Figg

21 September 2010

Dear Rowling, Dan,

I understood I had requested a review as I was not satisfied with
how my request had been handled. Would the isle of Wight Council
please verify whether this was the correct procedure and if so why
it has not been adhered to.

The information you have supplied stating that only one fine was
issued in the Ryde area during the period 15th of October 2008 and
14th October 2009, which you state was for the offence of allowing
a Dog to Enter or Remain in a Dog Exclusion Area under The Dogs
Exclusion (Isle of Wight) Order 2008, is inaccurate as in reply to
another Freedom of Information request listed on this website the
Isle of Wight Council have stated that 5 fines have been issued for
dog fouling alone in Ryde during this same time period.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

Therefore only one fine being issued cannot reflect a factual
statement of the recorded information the Isle of Wight Council
hold. I would like an explanation please.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Figg

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From: Girolamodibari, Dario
Isle of Wight Council

23 September 2010

Test email,

Please reply if you receive this email,

It has been reported by Vanda Niemiec that she is not able to send an
email to this address

Thanks

Dario Girolamodibari | Service Desk & 2nd Line Support Officer | Service
Support | Isle of Wight Council | 2Langley Court | Newport | Isle of Wight
| PO30 1LA | Tel.(01983) 823500 | (01983) 823501

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From: Niemiec, Vanda
Isle of Wight Council

23 September 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Niemiec, Vanda
Sent: 23 September 2010 11:59
To: '[FOI #45469 email]'
Cc: Rowling, Dan
Subject: FOI ref. iw10/8/34520

Dear Mr Figg

I refer to your email dated 21 September, addressed to Dan Rowling, in
which you queried the reply given to your above referenced FOI request.

The initial response requested clarification from you, to determine
whether you required details of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN's), rather than
fines. Your email dated 17 September, was taken to be this clarification,
and a response was sent to you on 21 September. Whilst your email
requested an internal review, this was not an appropriate course of
action, as the initial request had not been concluded.

You refer to a difference between the information provided to you in
response to this request, and a previous request you had submitted. The
response from Dan Rowling dated 21 September confirms that 1 FPN was
issued by Dog Wardens for the period in question, as per your request.
Additional information was provided to you to advise that, in addition to
Dog Wardens, Environment and Neighbourhood Officers had delegated
authority to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for the same dog related offences
that the Dog Wardens have. During the time period quoted by yourself: Five
Fixed Penalty Notices were issued in the area specified, all of which for
the offence Failing to Remove Dog Faeces Forthwith under The Fouling of
Land by Dogs (Isle of Wight) Order 2008. No complaints were received
regarding the issuing of these Fixed Penalty Notices.

I trust this clarifies the matter for you. However, if you are
dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled, you have the
right of an internal review. Please email [1][Isle of Wight Council request email] with
details of what aspect of the request and reply you are dissatisfied with.
If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you have the
right of further appeal to the Information Commissioners Office,
[2]www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Vanda Niemiec (Miss) | Information Manager | Legal Services | Isle of
Wight Council | County Hall | Newport | Isle of Wight | PO30 1UD

Tel: (01983) 823803 | Internal: 3803

Email: [3][email address] | Web: [4]www.iwight.com

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From: Mr Figg

23 September 2010

Dear Niemiec, Vanda,

You appear to be under the impression that I was quoting a previous
request which I had made when referring to the 5 fines for fouling
in this area.
The request on this website I quoted was not made by me. I have
only ever made 2 requests to the isle of wight council, both were
made on this website and both were for the same information. Please
verify that you have the correct information in future prior to
replying.

You appear to be stating that the 5 fouling fines were not issued
by the island dog wardens but by other enforcing officers of the
council. Is this correct? And if so are you stating that only one
fixed penalty notice, for any offence under the island dog control
orders, was issued by island dog wardens in this area in the 12
month period referred to in the request?

Yours sincerely,

Mr Figg

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From: Niemiec, Vanda
Isle of Wight Council

7 October 2010

Dear Mr Figg

With respect to your request for clarification of the numbers of fixed penalty notices, the service have confirmed that 1 fixed penalty notice was issued for a dog fouling offence, in the area and time frame that was requested. The 5 fixed penalty notices were issued by Environment and Neighbourhood officers, as detailed in my email below.

Yours sincerely

Vanda Niemiec (Miss) | Information Manager | Legal Services | Isle of Wight Council | County Hall | Newport | Isle of Wight | PO30 1UD

Tel: (01983) 823803 | Internal: 3803

Email: [email address] | Web: www.iwight.com

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From: Mr Figg

7 October 2010

Dear Niemiec, Vanda,

You have confused the matter even further with your reply as you
have said there was 1 fixed penalty notice issued which was for a
dog fouling offence, however in the original reply Dan Rowling
stated that the 1 Fixed Penalty Notice was for the offence of
allowing a Dog to Enter or Remaining in a Dog Exclusion Area under
The Dogs Exclusion (Isle of Wight) Order 2008.

I have had to request clarification of the replies to this request
several times now and it really was a simple request.

Would you please state clearly and unambiguously what offence the
one fixed penalty notice/fine issued by your dog wardens in the
Ryde area, during the period 15th of October 2008 and 14th October
2009, was actually issued for?

Yours sincerely,

Mr Figg

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From: Niemiec, Vanda
Isle of Wight Council

11 October 2010

Dear Mr Figg

I am sorry for the confusion. My email should have stated that the 1 Fixed Penalty Notice was issued for an offence under the Dogs Exclusion Order, as previously advised by Dan Rowling.

Yours sincerely

Vanda Niemiec (Miss) | Information Manager | Legal Services | Isle of Wight Council | County Hall | Newport | Isle of Wight | PO30 1UD
Tel: (01983) 823803 | Internal: 3803
Email: [email address] | Web: www.iwight.com

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Isle of Wight Council only: