A dog owner who failed to clear up his pet's mess on Great Yarmouth's seafront has been fined �175.Daniel Banks was spotted failing to clear up after his Staffordshire bull type dog as he walked it past the Merrivale Model Village on Marine Parade on February 3.

A dog owner who failed to clear up his pet's mess on Great Yarmouth's seafront has been fined �175.

Daniel Banks was spotted failing to clear up after his Staffordshire bull type dog as he walked it past the Merrivale Model Village on Marine Parade on February 3.

Last Friday, Yarmouth magistrates found Banks, of Camden Road, Yarmouth, guilty of being a person in charge of a dog who failed to remove dog mess from designated land after he did not turn up for his court hearing.

The court heard that Banks and a friend had been spotted by the borough council's senior environmental ranger Paul Shucksmith walking three Staffordshire bull type dogs.

Charlotte Lockwood, prosecuting for the council, said Mr Shucksmith then saw Banks fail to clear up after the dog he was walking left a mess.

When approached by Mr Shucksmith Banks told him that he normally cleared up dog mess as he carried a bag with him but on this occasion had already used it. Mr Shucksmith gave Banks a bag to clear up the mess.

The environmental ranger then told Banks 'He should carry more bags in the future', Miss Lockwood told the court.

Banks was fined �175 and ordered to pay costs of �85.

Mike Ross, chair of the bench said that he hoped the fine would send out a 'clear message' that failing to clear up dog mess would not be tolerated in the borough.

Last Friday's court appearance follows one of the largest borough council clampdowns on dog fouling in which four people were convicted of the offence in May and fined a total of �320.