Six men sentenced for urinating in public to pay £1,800

York Magistrates have ordered six men to pay costs of £1,868 for urinating in public, following joint action by City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police to tackle anti-social behaviour in York.

On Tuesday 22 October 2019, York Magistrates heard that Shaun Doswell (aged 27 of Langholme Drive, York) was seen by a police officer, urinating against a wall on Albermarle Road, York, at around 7:40pm on Saturday 29 June 2019.

Mr Doswell, who had urinated in a residential area just a short distance from nearby toilet facilities, apologised for his actions during the incident.

He pleaded guilty at York Magistrates and was fined £80, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £32.

Alexander Andrysewski (aged 20 of Grasmere Avenue, Wetherby) was found by a police officer, urinating against a wall on Knavesmire, York, at 6:05pm on Friday 12 July 2019, while near a large crowd.  Mr Andrysewski apologised and pleaded guilty by post. He was fined £40, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £32.

James Alexander Todd (aged 28 of Guillemot Close, Blyth, Northumberland) was seen by a police officer, urinating against the Hamilton Panthers Football Club House on Knavesmire Road, York, at 1:15pm on Saturday 13 July 2019. Mr Todd apologised and pleaded guilty by post. He was fined £183, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £32.

Russell Robert Weir (aged 30 of Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway) was seen by a BID Ranger, urinating against a bin on Three Cranes Lane, York, at 6:50pm on Saturday 27 July 2019. Mr Weir apologised and pleaded guilty by post. He was fined £143, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £32.

York Magistrates heard that the previous month, on Tuesday 10 September 2019, Haneesh Guila (aged 27 of Bad Bargain Lane, York) was seen by a police officer and CCTV, urinating against a wall on Clifford Street, York, at 4:45am on Sunday 23 June 2019. Mr Guila apologised during the incident and pleaded guilty by post. He was fined £203, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £30.

Jack Parker (aged 21 of Darwin Drive, Driffield) was also seen by a police officer urinating against the wall of private residence on Mill Mount Court, York, at 7:50pm on Saturday 29 June 2019. Mr Parker pleaded guilty by post and was fined £176, ordered to pay costs of £144 and a surcharge of £32.

Council action plan on graffiti

The York Council has published a report indicating how it will respond to reports of graffiti in future.

Domestic properties, hit by graffiti, will be offered a free removal service. Householders will have to give written permission for the Council to undertake the work. We think this initiative  is right. Simply living next to a public footpath should not involve the inconvenience and cost of having to remove unwanted graffiti from house walls.  

Owners of commercial premises will be offered the same service but will have to pay for it (£52 per sq. meter).

For the first time for over 5 years the Council has republished the current service level agreement for dealing with issues on Council estates. These were sometime called “customer contracts” in the past and were last reviewed in May 2013.  It confirms that target times for the removal of graffiti.  The Council will remove racist or offensive graffiti on council property within 24 hours. They will remove all other graffiti from council property within 5 working days.

The Council report is weak in two respects.

Money spent – almost £90,000 in a full year on removing graffiti – is a cost of failure. It simply shouldn’t happen. Yet the report fails to review what enforcement measures are being taken. There are no details given of prosecutions over the last few years.

Subjectively it does seem that the authorities have given criminal damage cases in general, and graffiti in particular, a low enforcement priority. Given the damage given to the City’s image by this crime, that approach needs to change in the future.

Secondly the new process doesn’t provide for preventative measures to be taken when graffiti is removed. There are anti-graffiti coatings available which repel paint and allows graffiti to be removed more easily.

This is a welcome step forward by a Council which has been severely criticised for failings in street level public service standards over the summer period.

Hopefully other issues will now get similar attention.

What’s on in York: Julian Norton – On Call with a Yorkshire Vet

Tang Hall Explore at The Centre @ Burnholme

Tuesday November 5th

7:00 pm – 8:00 pm 

£5

Book tickets »

Join TV’s Yorkshire Vet Julian Norton for anecdotes from his new book On Call with a Yorkshire Vet.

Through the snows of the beast from the east, Julian treats sheep in Nun Monkton and a pony in Dallow Gill. He treats a Meerkat with a broken tail from Great Ouseburn, A lame horse next to Almscliffe crag, a wagyu in Topcliffe and a Clydesdale horse in York. These and many more adventures are contained within his new book On Call with a Yorkshire Vet.

Julian has been working in mixed practice in rural North Yorkshire for the majority of his twenty-one years as a vet, much of this in the market town of Thirsk, made famous by James Herriot and his books. During this time, he has seen many varied cases, unusual animals great and small and has met and become friends with a huge mixture of fascinating farmers and pet owners. In 2015, Julian became involved with the hit TV series The Yorkshire Vet, which continues to be a popular Channel 5 programme. He contributes a weekly column to The Country Week section of The Yorkshire Post, documenting his weekly veterinary anecdotes. Julian currently works in the market town of Boroughbridge, continuing his passion for independent mixed practice, where he works with his wife, Anne who is also a vet.