IT beggars belief, doesn't it, what some people will do in the community if they think they can get away with it.

We've heard some accounts of anti-social behaviour, over the years, but the sick antics of dog-owners blighting the lives of people whose homes back on to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal takes some beating.

We can't think that anyone will take issue with the view. Perish the thought that they might.

The incredible thing is that it's being committed by people who've gone to the lengths of leaving home with plastic bags and scoops to remove the offending muck from the towpath.

We'd have thought that, if any part of the practice was undesirable, that would have been it.

What's more repulsive about taking the offending matter home and dropping it in a bin than scooping it in the first place?

We share Councillor Rod Staines opinion about the culprits, and we agree that it's not the city council's responsibility to provide bins.

Let's not forget, the authority has already given the community the best possible tool to fight such behaviour in the shape of legal powers which allow people to be prosecuted.

We'd remind readers that there's a hotline number which they can ring to blow the whistle on anyone allowing the streets - or any other open space like a towpath - to be fouled.

And we're happy to repeat a promise we made when it came into force.

We're ready to name - and shame - anyone who appears in court and ends up being convicted of an offence.

In fact, only one thing would please us more, as we imagine it would all those innocent residents living adjacent to the canal. That's being able to celebrate the end of the problem.