"Collection Fee" for stray dog

[Petejc21]

Hi,

About 6 weeks ago our dog "escaped" from our back garden while we were both at work. We had had her only 2 weeks (got her from a rescue centre) and had been leaving her in the conservatory with the door open so she can go into the garden to use the toilet. We always keep the back gate shut and bolted, but when my wife got home from work the dog was gone and the gate was undone. My wife called he police as she thought someone had broken into the garden and taken the dog. However 10 mins later she had a call from a dog warden saying they had picked the dog up following a call from a local resident (dog was only 50 yeards from our house).

 

We think someone had walked down the alley, saw that the conservatory was open and got over the fence to have a look, (nothing was taken as we had moved pretty much everything into the house for this very reason), they just took the dog and left the gate open.

 

Anyway the warden had only had the dog for about 20 mins when my wife arrived to pick her up, however he refused to hand the dog over and she had to stay the night, my wife then had to pay £31 to get her back. During her time with the warden her collar (which we paid £20 for) had gone missing! The warden blamed it on the vet, the vet blamed it on the warden!

 

Now 6 weeks later we recieve an invoice from maidstone council for a £60 Out of Hours Collection Fee, basically a charge for "letting the dog stray" and for them picking the dog up and taking her to the kennels! Can anyone advise where we stand with regards to paying/not paying this!

 

The dog did not "stray", we believe she was stolen and then left by whoever took her. Does this not make us the victim of a crime? If so is it right that we have had to pay £31 intially anf now another £60? AND someone at either the vets or wardens (probably wardens) have blatantly stolen her collar?! Because nothing was taken and we got the dog back quite quickly she didn't bother pursuing the break in with the police, we just stopped leaving the conservatory door open and started using indoor puppy pads.

 

She is phonng the council today but I wanted to get some advice from anyone who knows a little about these issues.

 

Thanks,

Pete