A DOG owner was ordered to pay more than £700 after failing to clear up dog muck from a children's play area.

Paul Phillip Glasser, of Kentmere Avenue in Carr Mill, was fined £100 after being found guilty in his absence at Liverpool Magistrates' Court for failure to pay a fixed penalty notice.

Glasser was seen failing to remove dog faeces from a skateboard park near to Kentmere Avenue by a St Helens Council employee.

The court heard how, on January 14 this year, Glasser allowed his dog to foul in the park and then walked off without making any attempt to remove the faeces.

The witness contacted a dog welfare and enforcement officer, who attended the scene.

Glasser refused to give his details to the officer – which is also an offence – and the officer contacted Merseyside Police for assistance and to help obtain the offender's details.

Glasser was then issued with the fixed penalty notice – which was not paid within the prescribed time limit.

At court, he was issued with a £100 fine for non-payment of the fixed penalty, £100 for refusing to provide his details to an authorised officer, and ordered to pay costs of £482.24 and a victim surcharge of £20.