A ruff time for posties

‘Keep dogs away from the letterbox’ plea as Royal Mail staff plagued by pet attacks

THEIR attacks on posties have given rise to many jokes over the decades.

But it has emerged that Scots postmen and women are still being plagued by dogs.

Royal Mail figures show there were 211 incidents in which they were injured after being attacked at homes north of the Border between April 1, 2017 and March 31 this year.

In the UK, there were 2,275 attacks during the same period.

The most dangerous place to be a postie in Scotland was Aberdeenshire, where 38 were attacked. Second was Glasgow, with 34, while Edinburgh had only 16.

The safest location was Lerwick in Shetland, which saw just one attack. Caithness and Galashiels, Selkirkshire, both had three.

In September last year, postman Alan Quinn was bitten on the arm by a German shepherd dog in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

Mr Quinn required hospital treatment and physiotherapy and was unable to work for three months.

He said: ‘I had been delivering there for over ten years and the dog was never a problem. But on this day it got out and jumped on me at the external postbox and bit and tore into my arm.

‘I was screaming for help, I was covered in blood. I never for a moment expected it.

‘I’m not on that route any more, but I am very wary of dogs now – more than before.’

The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals vet charity estimates that 22 per cent of the population owns at least one dog, with 8.9million across the UK, 640,000 in Scotland.

The figures have been released as Royal Mail launches its sixth successive Dog Awareness Week.

As part of the campaign it is appealing to dog owners to ensure they understand the impact of dog attacks on postmen and women doing their job.

It has set out three rules to help prevent future attacks: keeping dogs away from the letter box; not opening the front door with your dog not under close control; and not allowing dogs to roam around the garden.

Dr Shaun Davis, Royal Mail group global director of safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability, said: ‘One attack is still one attack too many.

‘Attacks happen most often in the summer, so we are continuing our campaign to appeal to customers to help us cut attacks across the UK.’