The UK’s worst areas for dog attacks on postal workers | UK News

An affluent area in the garden of England has been revealed as the worst place for postal workers being bitten by dogs.

New figures show the number of reported incidents has increased by 14% in a year.

There were 1,916 attacks logged in the year to March 31 2023, compared to 1,673 reported in the previous year.

Some of the posties were seriously injured, with one requiring surgery.

And the area which saw the most attacks on postal workers was the Tunbridge Wells postcode area, with 65 incidents reported.

The Belfast and Sheffield postcode areas had the second and third highest rates, with 56 and 50 attacks reported respectively.

Royal Mail has released the figures ahead of its annual dog awareness week as it calls on owners to make sure their pets don’t pose any threat to postal workers.

Almost half of the attacks, 902 (47%), took place at the front door of peoples’ homes, while 27% happened in the garden, driveway or yard and 118 (6%) happened on the street.

381 injuries, a fifth of the total, happened through the letterbox. In 2020 a High Court ruling found that dog owners can be prosecuted if their pets have access to the letterbox and injure a delivery worker.

Dog attacks on posties resulted in just over 3,000 days of absence last year.

Kimberley Link, 50, had been a postie in Eltham, south-east London, for two years when she was mauled by a ‘big dog’ in July last year.

She was off work for six months after the attack. The dog’s owner was prosecuted, receiving a 12-month community order of 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £1,200 compensation to Ms Link.

The dog was put down after the attack.

Describing the attack, Ms Link said: ‘I realised he was loose and turned to get away, but he jumped up at me from behind and clamped onto my left elbow.

‘I can remember the dog pulling me to the floor then letting go of my elbow and then trying to bite into the back of my neck.

‘I had my hair in a long ponytail and a baseball cap on, so that stopped it from getting a grip on the back of my neck.

‘The attack then stopped, I don’t know whether the customer managed to get hold of the dog and pulled him off me, but one of her neighbours appeared as she had heard me screaming.’

Ms Link was taken to hospital where an X-ray revealed the dog’s tooth was still lodged inside her elbow.

She was transferred to another hospital because she needed a plastic surgeon and was operated on once to remove the dog’s tooth, and then again ‘to try and repair the nerve damage’.