A POSTMAN awarded damages after injuring one of his darts-playing fingers in a letterbox has hit back at his critics.
Dennis Coleman is angry with suggestions he is part of “the greedy compensation culture”.
Mr Coleman was delivering mail in Stokesley when he trapped a finger after the letter-box flap snapped shut “like a mousetrap”.
The 52-year-old postman was treated in hospital for the deep cut to the middle finger of his right hand.
A national newspaper claimed Mr Coleman received £3,000 in compensation for the injury - but he says the true figure is £1,000 and he has come in for stinging online criticism.
Some branded him “a wimp” while another claimed the country was “becoming drunk on the compensation claim culture”.
But Mr Coleman, who is married with seven children and lives in Brambles Farm, has defended his actions and disputed the claims.
He denied that he was off work for six weeks after the accident last March and told the Gazette: “I was off work for two weeks and went back as soon as I could against doctors’ advice, and did light duties for three or four weeks.
“I am not a lazy person, I never have been.”
Mr Coleman hired solicitors to claim for compensation against the householder, Martin Welch and the action was settled out of court.
Mr Coleman, who is in his 14th year with Royal Mail, claimed the letterbox was dangerous because it had a home-made draught-excluder.
He told the Gazette: “The flap was caught on the draft excluder. I put my hand in and it came down like a mousetrap, snapping my finger.”
He said the cut was deep and pouring with blood and he had to have three stitches.
He said: “I’ve had a heart attack and it didn’t hurt as much as the stitches I had to get. I still have numbness in my finger.”
Mr Coleman plays Super League darts for North Ormesby Working Mens’ Club and local league darts for Ormesby Institute.
He disputed claims that “within a few months of the accident” he was competing for the top prize in a North-east darts competition.
He said: “It was eight weeks before I could throw a dart,” going on to say he did take part in the Teesside Ranking Event at Middlesbrough’s Marton Country Club nine months later.
The Gazette reported that Mr Coleman “produced one of the night’s biggest upsets and was a whisker away from the semi-finals”.
Mr Welch claimed he knew nothing about the accident until he received a claim document from TMJ Legal Services.
The document said Mr Coleman would be seeking damages for “loss of opportunity to obtain prize money from darts competition”.
Mr Welch, a 49-year-old civil engineer, said: “I am astonished Royal Mail doesn’t have procedures in place with insurers to deal with this. The letterbox is as it was when the home was built 20 years ago, and after the accident Royal Mail went on delivering.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail has not been approached by the postman or the householder and had no knowledge of any legal action concerning this incident.”
)