Royal Mail welcomes consultation on tougher penalties for irresponsible dog owners

Royal Mail today (7 August) welcomed the Government’s consultation on imposing tougher penalties for irresponsible dog owners.

Dog attacks are a significant hazard, faced by postmen and women on a daily basis. Since April 2011, there have been over 5,500 attacks on Royal Mail postmen and women, some leading to a permanent disabling injury. Attacks have resulted in the loss of 4,100 working days due to injuries.

Over 2,400 postmen and women were attacked across the UK by dogs from April 2012 to April 2013. While the number of attacks has fallen by 24 per cent nationally since 2011, it still remains unacceptably high. Every dog attack on one of our postmen or women is one dog attack too many.

Royal Mail recently held the UK’s first Dog Awareness Week, working alongside the Communication Workers Union (CWU) with support from a wide range of organisations and animal charities including Dogs Trust, DEFRA and Blue Cross to raise awareness of dog attacks on Royal Mail’s postmen and women and appeal to dog owners to work with us to help keep animals under control when the postman calls.

During Dog Awareness Week, Lord De Mauley, Parlimentary Under Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) become postman for the day when he went out on a delivery round with a postman in London who has previously been a victim of a dog attack. 

Currently, legal protection against attacks by dogs does not extend ‘beyond the garden gate’, this is a particular problem for postmen and women, who each visit hundreds of private addresses every day on their delivery rounds. Royal Mail welcomes the Government’s commitment to amend the previous legislation to ensure our postmen and women will be protected when they enter private property including a customer’s garden.

This follows an independent inquiry, commissioned by Royal Mail Group’s Chairman Donald Brydon, into dog attacks on postal workers. The inquiry, led by former High Court Judge Sir Gordon Langley, was published in November 2012.

Royal Mail and the CWU are continuing to work together to raise awareness of the reality of dog attacks and our main aim is to always prevent attacks. If we feel that there is a risk from a dog, or any other animal, at an individual address, we are committed to working with the customer to agree simple steps to ensure we can deliver the mail safely. 

Shaun Davis, Director of Health, Safety and Wellbeing for Royal Mail Group said: “We welcome the news that DEFRA are holding a consultation on tougher penalties for irresponsible dog owners.

“Dog attacks cause injuries and terrible trauma to our postmen and women. Since April 2011, there have been over 5,500 attacks on Royal Mail postmen and women, some leading to a permanent disabling injury. Nobody should have to endure this and our postmen and women should not be at increased risk of such attacks simply because of the job they do.

“Our first priority as an employer is to ensure the welfare and safety of our people who provide a valuable service to our customers.  We recently held a Dog Awareness Week working with the CWU, animal charities and organisations to raise awareness of the problems our postmen and women face daily when they are delivering the mail.”