A NAILSEA couple have been fined £1,500 for allowing their dogs to bark more than 800 times in 40 minutes.

Carl and Kerry Bushe, of Goss Barton, were prosecuted by North Somerset Council in their absence after failing to comply with a noise abatement notice, breaching it on three separate occasions.

But the couple told the Evening Post they were unaware of any court summons and had not had any letters from the council about the problem for almost two years.

North Somerset magistrates were told the council received complaints about excessive barking from dogs coming from the Bushes' home over a period of several months.

On February 9, the council said it served a noise abatement notice on the Bushes, which required them to provide "adequate supervision" of the dogs to prevent them barking.

But just months later, as a result of another complaint, an environmental protection officer went to the property on July 28 and recorded 885 barks in the space of just 40 minutes.

There was no reply at the home and later that day he said he wrote to Mr and Mrs Bushe telling them what had happened and warned them that they should take steps to prevent any further breaches of the notice. After another complaint on August 3, officers re-visited and recorded a total of 141 barks over seven minutes.

Five days later, they went again to a neighbour's property where, in nine minutes, 376 barks were recorded.

Magistrates found Mr and Mrs Bushe guilty of all three breaches and fined them £1,500 – £500 for each breach. The couple must also pay £358.75 costs and a £15 surcharge.

But the Bushes said they had no idea they had been fined until The Post visited them last night.

The two dogs in question – a black labrador-cross and a white cross-breed – were both rescue dogs the family took in several years ago.

The couple said they had taken measures to try to stop them barking when left at home, including blocking up the letter box and diverting post to their local post office to prevent them from being disturbed during the day.

Mr and Mrs Bushe said they were on holiday in the summer, with their son looking after the dogs, when the environment protection officer attended and recorded the barking.

They were planning to contact the council today to find out how and why they have been fined.

The council's executive member for consumer protection, Cllr Peter Bryant said: "Constant noise can have a really debilitating effect on people – especially when they are at home where it is completely reasonable to expect a certain level of peace and quiet.

"In this particular case we had spoken to the dog owners who chose to ignore our advice and decided that the noise abatement notice wasn't something they needed to abide by.

"The successful prosecution we have brought demonstrates we do take these situations seriously and their actions have cost this couple dear."