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There were an average of 37 dog attacks on posties per week in the UK last year, as incidents rose by 15 per cent year-on-year
Royal Mail reported 1,916 dog attacks on its staff in the year to 31 March, 2023.
Kent was the biggest hotspot for dog attacks, with 65 postal workers attacked by dogs in the Tunbridge Wells postcode area – followed by Belfast, with 56 attacks, and Sheffield, with 50 attacks.
Nearly half of attacks took place at owners’ front doors, while a quarter took place in the garden, drive or yard.
The rise in attacks correlates with a reported rise in dog ownership in the UK, with the nation’s pooch population rising from 9.6 million in 2021 to 11 million in 2023.
Lizz Lloyd, health and safety director, said: “We know the number of attacks rises during the school holidays and in the summer months when parents and children are at home and dogs are sometimes allowed unsupervised in the garden or out onto the streets without restraints.
“So, while we want our customers to enjoy being outside with their pets, we also want to ask them to consider the danger unsupervised dogs pose to our colleagues.”
Top ten dog attack hotspots by postcode
- Tunbridge Wells
- Belfast
- Sheffield
- Portsmouth
- Bristol
- Swansea
- Exeter
- Nottingham
- Brighton
- Oxford
Royal Mail said that many postal workers have been left distressed and severely hurt, some with permanent injuries, by the run-ins, leading to 3,014 absences from 2022-23.
Kimberley Link, 50, from London, had been working as a postwoman for two years when a customer’s dog unexpectedly launched at her from behind its owner.
She said: “I’ve now got bad scarring on my elbow and a large patch where I have no feeling or sensation due to the skin graft. I’ve also got permanent nerve damage to my hand so I can’t grip my hand properly. I was off work for six months.
“When I returned there was a management position available so I decided to take it – I couldn’t have faced going back on that round.”
Ms Link added: “Dogs are defensive of their home, so, if possible, put them in another room before opening the door to the postie because most dogs will try and push their way past their owner to the door.”
Royal Mail has been pushing for harsher sentencing for owners who fail to protect its workforce from dog attacks.
In 2020, the High Court ruled that dog owners, or anyone taking care of one in their place, can be prosecuted if their pets access a letterbox and cause injury to a delivery person, even if the owner is not home.
Royal Mail said that it recognised that dogs were not inherently dangerous but emphasised that any dog can become defensive around strangers if it feels threatened.
Dave Joyce, health and safety officer of the Communication Workers’ Union, said that posties wanted to “remind the public to be aware of their legal and moral responsibilities to control their dogs and prevent dog attacks on postal workers who are providing them with a great public service”.
He added: “The public need to be aware that if their dog attacks a postal worker, they can be prosecuted either by the police, local authority or by Royal Mail via a private prosecution.”
Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, owners could receive fines and be sent to prison for up to six months if their dog is “dangerously out of control”, and up to five years if a dog injures someone.
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