Mail deliveries suspended in estate after dog 'attempts to attack' postal worker

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The houses in Walliswood were left without a postal service until "satisfactory measures had been put in place to secure the dog


The Royal Mail stopped delivering to 47 homes in Walliswood for more than a week after a dog "attempted to attack" a postal worker.

Residents on the Oakfields Estate were issued with a letter informing them that they would need to go to neighbouring depots to get their mail as there would no longer be a service to the estate.


The letter said that there was a dog running around that had allegedly chased and attacked a postal worker.

Following the post ban an assessor was sent to the estate and deemed that it was safe. Postal services resumed on Thursday (June 7) to all except for the dog owner’s house.

Alan Plaw, 64, who lives on the Oakfields estate, said: “They sent a letter at the beginning of last week and we had nothing until Thursday when we finally got the mail.

“Apparently there’s a dog down the road that has been there about six to nine months but I’ve never really seen it.

“According to the letter there was a dog running around and it bit the postman twice but we heard nothing and never saw the dog running loose.

“I just think that it’s the Royal Mail overreacting. It’s perfectly safe around here, there are kids running around every afternoon and they’ve never been done any harm.”

Neighbours have been frustrated at the inconvenience of not getting any post until the matter was resolved with the dog owner.

Mr Plaw continued: “If there was a problem with the dog then they should have just stopped going to that one house, there’s no need to have stopped delivering to the whole estate.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We suspended deliveries to a number of addresses on Oakfields, Walliswood, after a dog attempted to attack one of our postal workers.

“The safety and welfare of our staff is paramount and we only suspend deliveries as a last resort when the safety of our staff is at risk.

“We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience this caused. Following a risk assessment today (June 7), deliveries have been reinstated to neighbours as satisfactory measures have been put in place to secure the dog .

“The suspension remains in place for the address of the dog owner, and we will continue to liaise with them to enable us to deliver the mail securely.”