A BOURNEMOUTH mum who has labelled her walk to school the ‘dog poo dodge’ has appealed to dog owners to pick up after their pets.

Nikki Storer said the problem of dog mess left on pavements in the Redhill area of Bournemouth is now so bad that she has to clean her pushchair wheels after every school run.

And the final straw came on Hill View School’s Roman day, when her nine-year-old daughter Melisha stepped in dog mess immediately outside their home and got it up the back of her toga-style costume.

Nikki had to return home to clean up Melisha and her costume, resulting in her daughter getting a late mark against her name at school.

Nikki said: “It has gone beyond a joke now. Last week there was a load of dog mess right outside the school gates – I was just congratulating myself on dodging it the whole journey when the pushchair went through it.

“The Roman day saga was just awful. I had taken the car as I was going straight on after school but Melisha managed to step in it right outside our drive. I had to clean the car because it was all over the mat, her shoes and her costume.

“There are a lot of responsible dog owners and I see our regular ones go by with their bags. But there also seems to be some who think they can just get away with it.

“Who would let their dog foul right outside the school gates? Children will walk in it and traipse it into school, it’s disgusting and it’s putting children’s health at risk.”

Councillor David Smith, cabinet member for the environment, said: “We take the issue of dog fouling extremely seriously in a bid to protect both public health and to keep our streets clean and attractive. Our street cleansing teams target dog fouling as part of their general work in the borough and increase activity when problems are reported in certain areas.”

  • Bournemouth council said it operated a no excuses policy and will issue £50 fines to those caught breaking the rules. Anyone who witnesses an incident should report it to the Environmental Health team on 01202 451296 or the street cleansing team on 01202 451199.

The council added that any photo evidence or statements provided by members of the public can also help them prosecute offenders.