Posties in Leicestershire under attack from dogs and other p

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Posties in Leicestershire under attack from dogs and other pets

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Dog attacks on posties are taking place on average once a week.

Between 2006 and 2011 there were 290 incidents of dogs attacking postal workers in the county as they carried out their daily round.

There were also 11 incidents of physical or verbal attacks by residents and four attacks by other animals.

"This is a far bigger problem than people realise," said Andy Connelly, a representative of The Communications Workers' Union, whose members include postal workers.

"Some staff have had to retire because their injuries are so bad."

The information, released to the Mercury following a Freedom of Information request to Royal Mail, broke down the number of dog attacks by postcode.

The highest number of incidents – 34 – were in LE11, which includes Loughborough.

Postcode LE2, which covers the city centre, was second highest, with 31 attacks.

LE16, covering Market Harborough, was third highest, with 30 dog attacks reported.

Mr Connelly, who is also Labour councillor for Westcotes ward, in Leicester, said: "It's joked about by members of the public that part of the job of postman is being attacked by dogs, but some of our members have suffered serious injuries from these attacks.

"As a union, we encourage our members to make civil claims against owners of the dogs that have injured them – partly for the compensation but also to send out that message that it should not be tolerated.

"It's worse during the school holidays because children will often answer the door without first making sure that the dog can't get out."

The types of "other animal" that had attacked postal workers were not specified in the report.

However, Mr Connelly said: "Cats occasionally bite or scratch postmen.

"If they see post coming through a letterbox they often mistake it for a game.

"We've also had one incident of a postman being attacked by a parrot."

A city postman, who did not want to be named, said: "The famous last words from dog owners are always 'don't worry, it won't bite' – just before it tries to chew your arm.

"People need to take more responsibility for their pets."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The majority of dog owners are very responsible when it comes to keeping delivery staff safe.

"But dog bites are still a major cause of injury to our postmen and women and the effects can cause considerable stress to those concerned.

"We therefore appreciate it when owners take extra care to keep their pets under control when we arrive with their post.

"We advise them to keep their pets indoors at the time of mail deliveries, or we may ask them to fit a cage inside the door to catch the mail."

[TeeferTiger]

"Keep their pet indoors at time of deliveries" Then the dog owners will argue "But we never know when you're going to arrive with the post?!" And I used to have the pleasure of delivering the parcels in the afternoon after the post had been round so are they meant to keep their dogs in all day?! That's stupid advice. Unless they can say to the public that all your items will be delivered between these times, it's not fair to ask them to keep an animal cooped up.

It is fair however, to ask them to ensure that the animal cannot get to the spaces being used for delivery such as the front path/letterbox area, and that any areas where there is a dog are labelled so that the postman doesn't go around to the back garden to find a safe place and then find themselves face to face with the angry canine!