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Sweep-up dust-up in Canford Cliffs over Poole council surveillance claim

7:00pm Sunday 17th May 2009 in


A FAMILY of restaurateurs thought they had become targets of Poole council spies when they were told they had been filmed sweeping rubbish onto the road.

James Hamilton, manager of Le Chateau in Canford Cliffs, told the Echo he thought they were “under surveillance” after a council officer told him they had footage of a member of staff sweeping rubbish off the decking outside the premises. But it turned out the film was taken by a council worker on a mobile phone.

Mr Hamilton was only made aware when he received a letter warning that the 25-year-old family-run restaurant could be issued with a street litter control notice.

When he phoned the council to ask what evidence they had – he was told there was video footage.

“It’s a bit of overkill to film us when they simply could have come round and spoken to us,” he said. “It’s crazy.”

He says the dust and debris cleared from the decking is blown in from the street – particularly a nearby bus stop where there is no litter bin.

His father-in-law Dave Wakelam said he thought they’d been doing the council a favour sweeping debris from the pavement into the road.

“I couldn’t believe it. A road sweeper was filming me sweeping the road – it’s bizarre,” he said.

Shaun Robson, head of Poole council’s environmental and consumer protection services, said the incident had been witnessed by council staff in a marked council vehicle wearing high visibility uniform.

He said: “They had the sense to gather evidence and supported their observation using their initiative, using their personal mobile phone to record the event.”

Mr Robson added: “This falls within the normal range of enforcement activities that council staff carry out to protect the people of Poole and their environment.

“The officer was not conducting surveillance, they were rightly gathering evidence of a potential offence.”

Comments(23)

Emulated says...
7:24pm Sun 17 May 09

Conservative council using Nu Labour Stazi tatics. Lets face it, local or general politicians are all much the same. Vote UKIP in the EU elections to send a message to all politicians.

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Lord Spring says...
7:52pm Sun 17 May 09

Filmed for training purposes only, as no current road cleaning operative has been instructed how to use a brush. The resturant owner should be headhunted as a brush instuctor to the council.

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peterdw777 says...
7:52pm Sun 17 May 09

"the dust and debris cleared from the decking is blown in from the street ". Obviously Poole Council are more fond of taking videos than actually clearing up their own streets.

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X Old Bill says...
8:21pm Sun 17 May 09

Have no fear Mr Hammilton: Just tell them that after the man finished recording you swept it all up and put it in your bin. Challenge them try to prove otherwise!

I do not buy beer in cans.
I do not smoke.
I do not buy take-away food.
I do not use the buses.
I do not eat crisps.

The wrappings and other detritus from these thing somehow ends up in my front garden. I am not allowed to sweep it all back into the road, so it goes into my bin.

I suppose the next stage is for the 'Council Bin Police' to demand to know why my bin contains rubbish which is unsorted and which I do not generate.

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alumchineboy2 says...
8:22pm Sun 17 May 09

How pathetic,
how come our local council's have now become the enemy of ordinary working people.

What is a 'council worker' doing riding around the streets obviously with nothing better to do, filming people going about their business. I bet this restaurant pay a fortune in council tax and they are treated like this.

Shame on you council workers - have you no personal pride ?

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sollie says...
8:26pm Sun 17 May 09

How petty. What sort of state are we living in when we have litter spies videoing our every movement.

How much money was wasted by Poole BC in this exercise?



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PokesdownMark says...
8:43pm Sun 17 May 09

Could the echo find out how the new council video cars are getting on? I see them driving around a fair bit. How many fines issued? How many crimes detected? What have they cost so far?

(security word: film-head. 10 points to me!)


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dopey says...
9:05pm Sun 17 May 09

"...council staff in a marked council vehicle wearing high visibility uniform...
...to protect the people of Poole"

Sounds like Batman & Robin !
Or The Lone Ranger gone wrong?
Or a private police force?

Just giv'em a brush and bin bag and get on with it.

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pete woodley says...
9:37pm Sun 17 May 09

There are two sides to every story.Having had over two dozen shops myself from 1972 to 1997,i always picked up the rubbish,and put it in a bin,if you sweep it into the gutter,it will blow back.

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mta says...
10:19pm Sun 17 May 09

am i missing the point here , he should buy a dustpan and keep his area tidy .perhaps he cant afford one. fine him !

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thesyrup1 says...
11:15pm Sun 17 May 09

I wonder if the Council will be so keen to do anything if people film Council workers doing things they shouldnt be. I have seen quite a few Council staff smoking in works vans, dropping the butts out of the windows. I might start using my camera from now on, see what happens

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West Howe Sean says...
12:32am Mon 18 May 09

Perhaps we should film all the council staff breaking the rules and post them on youtube.

Seriously though, I do not understand how people can be so petty.

What sort of outlook on life do you have if you work for the council.


Get a life.

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Big Aussie Fib says...
12:50am Mon 18 May 09

West Howe Sean wrote:
Perhaps we should film all the council staff breaking the rules and post them on youtube. Seriously though, I do not understand how people can be so petty. What sort of outlook on life do you have if you work for the council. Get a life.
I should image people that work for the council are grateful they have a job...

What sort of comment is yours?

Get a life yourself

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Nigel Blumenthal says...
2:32am Mon 18 May 09

You wonder what the council worker was doing, if he wasn't doing his job and therefore had time to film street activity. Mind you, what reasonable people think of as "litter collection" seems to be beyond the wit of some council employees; I was watching one clearing litter from a small patch of ground within the Bournemouth town centre some weeks ago. He'd left anything that wasn't within two feet of the pavement. When I pointed out to him that there were still a couple of beer cans and some litter there, he said, "Oh, that's not my job; I only do the first couple of feet. The back of that area is my mate's job."

Of course, we're paying for all this.

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fedupwithjobsworths says...
5:43am Mon 18 May 09

"Shaun Robson, head of Poole council’s environmental and consumer protection services ...."
I suppose they had to give him a fancy job title, otherwise the public would think he was responsible for ensuring his staff actually picked litter up

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2Much...again! says...
7:46am Mon 18 May 09

mta wrote:
am i missing the point here , he should buy a dustpan and keep his area tidy .perhaps he cant afford one. fine him !
He is sweeping the pavement...council property..what's to say it's not dust from the street in the first place?
If the council provided reliable & regular street cleaners, this wouldn't be an issue. Instead..they spend the money on jobsworths, costing more money...ludicrous!
It's nice to see someone taking a pride in the front of his premises..maybe if they did what they do on the continent, more people would do this!

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Tripod says...
8:10am Mon 18 May 09

As I understand it, any CCTV system used to monitor the general public MUST be registered under the data protection act and must have suitable signage; Can anyone tell me if this also covers Councel workers using mobile phone cameras?

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finhell says...
9:12am Mon 18 May 09

Who neeeds the BNP when you have the Facist Poole Council.

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nobull says...
10:31am Mon 18 May 09

What a load of rubbish xx

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ebagum says...
10:58am Mon 18 May 09

Whats a bit of dust compared to the masses of sugar packets and paper napkins you see littering the areas around open air cafes. No one clears them and the council are not interested in 'encouraging' the proprietors to take responsibility. I have contacted Bournemouth and Christchurch councils on numerous occasions without any positive replies.

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pete woodley says...
5:27pm Mon 18 May 09

Another FREE advert,complete with colour photo.Hope they give you a free meal Juliette.If car boot ads cost over £35,what was that worth ?.This form of advertising is getting very common in the Echo. Why ?.

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Taffytim says...
7:06pm Mon 18 May 09

If the environmental agency were there, why didn't they do their job and stop the offence there and then?

How long would it have taken for him/her to speak to the owner to point out the error of his ways instead of rushing back to the office like a childish infant to tell teacher??

If this is you, get a life.

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2Much...again! says...
7:47am Tue 19 May 09

pete woodley wrote:
Another FREE advert,complete with colour photo.Hope they give you a free meal Juliette.If car boot ads cost over £35,what was that worth ?.This form of advertising is getting very common in the Echo. Why ?.
Oh come on Pete, this made the news because it's ridiculous that this bloke is actually doing what all shop owners should do, and the council should be providing people to back this up...all they have to do is clear up small piles of dust as opposed to having to sweep the whole street. Teamwork to keep our streets something nice to walk down...what's so bad about that?

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