Looking for advise on compensation on a dogbite. Not sure to claim?

FacesOfStone · Post by **FacesOfStone** » 07 Jun 2019, 20:21

I got bitten for the first time recently; a tiny, yappy little s**t of a dog. Fortunately the wound was little more than a graze & no treatment was required, but it’s the principle of the matter. On the various duties I’ve become familiar with, I’ve come to learn that yes, there are plenty of dogs that genuinely won’t do me any harm, but I’m not going to take unnecessary risks where there’s the slightest hint of threat.

If you’ve got a message on your gate that tells me to beware the dog and I’m not able to establish that that doesn’t mean you’ve got a dog roaming freely beyond it, I’m inclined to bring your post back.

Case in point, the delivery I’ve covered more than any other has a gate with a small ‘Beware...’ sort of message and there is at least one massive German Shepherd given free reign behind; I’ve been told by the owner to never enter (not that I was planning to!) and simply leave a P739 for anything that can’t be left in their external box. Their warning placard is no more or less prominent than the sort of you find on plenty of gates; is it reasonable, therefore, to treat them all as though there is a dog on the other side until I’m utterly certain that there isn’t?

Don’t get me started on people who cheerily inform me that I’m always guaranteed to be safe with their darling, snarling creature on the other side of the fence...

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 08 Jun 2019, 16:43

FacesOfStone wrote:.......

Case in point, the delivery I’ve covered more than any other has a gate with a small ‘Beware...’ sort of message and there is at least one massive German Shepherd given free reign behind; I’ve been told by the owner to never enter (not that I was planning to!) and simply leave a P739 for anything that can’t be left in their external box. Their warning placard is no more or less prominent than the sort of you find on plenty of gates; is it reasonable, therefore, to treat them all as though there is a dog on the other side until I’m utterly certain that there isn’t?

Simple answer: Yes. If you enter a premises that have a warning sign on them and then get bitten, RM will beat a hasty retreat and say - 'Your fault, customer
warned you and you still entered. You put yourself at risk.'

Postie45 · Post by **Postie45** » 08 Jun 2019, 20:48

yellowbelly wrote: Simple answer: Yes. If you enter a premises that have a warning sign on them and then get bitten, RM will beat a hasty retreat and say - 'Your fault, customer
warned you and you still entered. You put yourself at risk.'

actually this isnt correct, by putting up a "beware of the dog" warning sign, its seen as recognition that the dog is dangerous or potentially dangerous by the customer, if they still expect posties and other people to gain access to this part of the property then they need to not have the dogs loose at all. Its seen as the customer being implicit by having their delivery point in an area which they know is potentially hazardous.

By just warning someone that dogs may be running free yet expecting a postie to still enter this area means the signage does not cover the customer in any way.
If the customer has dogs running free, they should secure the area and either make alternative arrangements for their mail to be delivered, such as a letterbox on the fence or redirected to another address. And of course, if you notice the dogs are running free, DONT enter !

Postie45 · Post by **Postie45** » 08 Jun 2019, 20:53

FacesOfStone wrote: Case in point, the delivery I’ve covered more than any other has a gate with a small ‘Beware...’ sort of message and there is at least one massive German Shepherd given free reign behind; I’ve been told by the owner to never enter (not that I was planning to!) and simply leave a P739 for anything that can’t be left in their external box. Their warning placard is no more or less prominent than the sort of you find on plenty of gates; is it reasonable, therefore, to treat them all as though there is a dog on the other side until I’m utterly certain that there isn’t?

Put it this way, if you raised your concern in writing about this to your manager, and RM took no action to investigate all of the addresses with potential dog hazards and then one day you did get attacked, then I believe both RM and the customer would be liable.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 08 Jun 2019, 23:33

Is any dog bite OK https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-48570172" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It could be a life and death matter!

peshwaarinaan · Post by **peshwaarinaan** » 12 Jun 2019, 12:38

I was bitten a couple of months ago. Police went round and spoke to them as I didn't want to take formal action but I wanted it on record.

I made enquiries about claiming for compensation but decided against it as I want to stay on the duty I am on. The owner was apologetic so I have just put it down to experience. If I wasn't likely to see the customer again I would probably have gone down that route. A colleague of mine got 2.5K for a similar injury.