WHEN pensioner Joy Tracey found a stray cat, her first thought was to try to reunite him with his owners.

But Joy's kindness ended in heartache. She was threatened with a hefty fine after she put up a poster for the missing ginger tom she has nicknamed Copper.

She found Copper on a street corner.

She put posters on lampposts but was amazed when two `council patrollers' - from the town hall's neighbourhood task force - left messages on her phone ordering her to take them down.

She said: "They said I had to go round and take them all down or face a heavy fine."

Joy, from Denton, found Copper at the junction of Ruby Street and Shoecroft. She contacted the RSPCA, who took out two newspaper adverts in a bid to trace his owners.

Then she began putting laminated `found' posters in the area where he was discovered.

Messages

She arrived home a day later to find two messages on her answer machine from patrollers ordering her to remove them.

She says she was only trying to help.

She said: "It makes me feel angry. If it was a scruffy poster I wouldn't mind, but it's been really neatly done. I just want to get this poor cat home. I'd had no response and he's such a loving cat."

Anyone who wants to put posters on lampposts must apply in writing to council highways engineers for permission at least 28 days in advance.

Fines can be imposed even if permitted posters are in place for more than 28 days. A spokesman for Tameside council said: "We understand the distress when pets go missing.

"However we have to reflect and act upon community concerns such as flyposting."