A town councillor has apologised for a ‘messy’ incident when he failed to pick up after his pet dog had ‘spent a penny’ in the centre of Tenby.

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, Clr. Will Rossiter said he had been left feeling “embarrassed and compromised” following an incident on Monday morning when a member of the public confronted him about not picking up after his pooch.

“The dog defecated on the pavement beside the bin and the man and dog walked away,” wrote Michael Hickling, in a letter that came before the town council.

“I called to the man, telling him that the dog had defecated and it needed picking up. He stopped, turned around and said words to the effect “It’s not worth picking up... it will soon dry”, obviously aware of what the dog had done. He made no attempt to remove it. My wife offered him a tissue which he took. It was at this point I thought I recognised him as Clr. Rossiter of Tenby Town Council,” he continued.

“I wanted confirmation of his identity and met two people who worked locally. I pointed out the man to them, who was by this time entering Cob Lane.

“He was obviously aware of my actions because he turned fully around and gestured with two fingers at me, an action which he could have been arrested for if a police officer had been present.

“I was disgusted and incensed by this man’s behaviour. This is not the kind of attitude and behaviour one expects from someone in an elected position,” Mr. Hickling claimed in his letter.

In responding to the incident, Clr. Rossiter told his colleagues how sorry he was to have been the cause of disappointment to the council, and that a citizen had cause to be ‘disgusted and incensed’ by the action of a Tenby councillor.

“My dog is trained to use a rubbish bin as a toilet point and I always keep a supply of doggie bags,” explained Clr. Rossiter.

“In this instance my dog had left a minute liquid deposit no bigger than an old penny and twice as thick. I ignored it as I reckoned it would be dry in no time,” he continued, explaining that he did pick up the mess after being offered a tissue, but that it was ‘partially removed’ in the sense that it smeared the pavement.

Clr. Rossiter went on to say that he was happy that he was pulled up for an ‘infraction’ of the dog fouling law, grateful even that a civic-minded member of the public did what the town council advocate necessary in the campaign to eradicate dog mess in the town.

“As you all know, I have been vociferous in trying to deal with the problem; therefore dually embarrassed,” he added, before giving his apologies once again.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall, welcomed the apology, stating that he hoped that the matter had highlighted such an important problem that councillors had been trying to tackle for some time, before reminding members that they were all ambassadors and representatives of the town.*see link to letters page