A Huddersfield man worried about a town hall blacklist of 400 people has turned the tables on Kirklees Council.

Melvin Gray, of Almondbury, has set up his own database, with the names of 20 'unhelpful' council employees, police and traffic wardens.

Dr Gray, a member of a pressure group called Concern4Justice, said: "As a sarcastic twist to all this we're setting up a database.

"We're naming unhelpful, provocative and abusive council employees, police and traffic wardens.

"We're trying to show the council how a good database should work to improve behaviour."

The Examiner recently ran a story about the council's 'hazard warning database'.

It contains the names of about 400 people whom the council believe could be a threat to their employees.

Dr Gray said: "The council, wrongly in my view, says names should go on it to protect its staff from any type of risk.

"But it might not protect them from any risk if it's wrong or erroneous in any way."

Referring to the example of a dangerous dog, which could attack an official during a home visit, Dr Gray said: "I don't think there's ever an excuse for not contacting this person and saying: 'Is it true you have a dog here and does it need muzzling?'

"Then they know what's happening and they're being given a chance to modify the way a dog is kept."

The new database is called the 'unhelpful public employees register'.

Dr Gray added: "The idea of this is that it's not secret.

"Each of these 20 employees know they're on this database and they have been given a chance to modify their behaviour or we put them into different bandings."

He said the system begins with unhelpful, then goes to provocative and ends up with abusive.

Asked what comes after that he replied: "We haven't developed it that far.

"But if there comes to be a situation where a member of the public is murdered by an officer we will have to review the banding!"

He added: "It's a good thing for the community that we're standing up to council officers who are abusing their authority."

A Kirklees spokesman said: "All employees are expected to deal with residents and customers in a friendly, helpful and professional manner, regardless of how difficult the circumstances of the individual issues they face might be.

"If people are not satisfied with how they are dealt with there are open and accessible complaints processes they can use."

* Dr Gray wants to hear from anyone who can suggest people to put on his database. There must be evidence to prove claims. Phone 01484 422338.