Exposed - canine bin bag vandal

The dog had been dragging the bin bags from the street

A householder fined for dumping rubbish discovered that his bin bags had in fact been stolen - by a dog.

The black Labrador-type dog had dragged away the bags which had been put outside Gwyn Jones' home for collection to a back lane nearby.

Council litter officers came across the mess and issued fixed penalty notices of £25 to Mr Jones who lives in Nantyffyllon, Maesteg as well as several of his neighbours.

But the mystery of the disappearing bin bags was finally solved when the crafty canine was caught in the act on camera by Mr Jones.

But, after teh picture was sent to Bridgend Council, the penalty notice was quashed.

"We got talking to a couple of the neighbours and they said that they had seen this dog pulling the bags," said Mr Jones' wife Barbara.

"We kept a lookout and we saw the dog doing it ourselves.

It was unbelievable, the speed it was going at Barbara Jones

"My husband managed to catch the dog on a digital camera. It was unbelievable, the speed it was going at.

"My husband emailed the photograph to the council because they didn't believe what we were telling them.

"We felt really strongly about it because why should we pay for something we haven't done?

"I was prepared to go to court about it but thankfully we got the picture of the dog and the council eventually stopped the penalty.

"But the dog is still about the place and he is still doing it to our neighbours. I don't think the council have tried to catch him yet.

"And there are still penalties being issued even though the dog is the one to blame," she added.

A council spokesman said that the dog has not yet been tracked down but that if anyone wanted to appeal against any fine they received they would look into the matter.

"There may be an employment opportunity for him [the dog] in street cleansing," he joked.