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An elderly couple have been fined £75 by Caerphilly County Borough Council for letting their dog off its lead while litter picking.

David and Janice Chapman, aged 81 and 79 respectively, were picking up rubbish, as they often do, from a green space behind their house near Virginia Park on Monday June 5.

As they were doing so, Mr and Mrs Chapman were approached by two council wardens who handed them a fine after their dog, Molly, was off its lead near a sports pitch.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer about the incident, Mr Chapman said: “We were well aware that you’re not allowed dogs off their lead near the playing field but he only followed Jan because she found some plastic bottles laying on the floor.

“As Jan was there with a bag full of rubbish, two wardens came up to us and said they’d be fining us. I couldn’t believe it.

“I said to them that surely because we were helping them out by litter picking they could let us off with a warning, but they weren’t having any of it.

“At one point, Jan bent down to pick up a bottle and the warden stopped her and said ‘don’t do that whilst I’m talking to you’.”

In a passionate post on social media, Aleks Vassili Georgijev, who runs the nearby Edge Gym on Pontygwindy Road, called on the council to reverse the fine.

He also told Caerphilly Observer: “I was down at the field a few days after the incident and got speaking to Mr and Mrs Chapman. I was incensed at the behaviour of the wardens and contacted the council straight away.

“At the end of the day they’re doing the council’s job. I use that field regularly and the Chapmans keep it immaculate. They should be rewarded not punished.

“Surely there needs to be some discretion applied. I was a police officer myself and I didn’t fine or arrest every person who technically broke the law because context matters.”

Caerphilly County Borough Council declined to comment on the incident.

Mr Chapman continued: “The wardens refused to even acknowledge we were picking the rubbish up, which was our whole argument really.

“We’ve been picking up rubbish here for years but this is their last. We’ll collect the stuff by our house but that’s it, we’re done.”

The couple were initially handed a £100 fine but had that reduced to £75 after paying it on the same day.

They wrote to the council to appeal the decision, but were sent a letter back saying that they had clearly committed an offence.

“You’d think they’d show some good will,” said Mrs Chapman. “They saw what we were doing and they didn’t care. It’s so disappointing,” she added.