# Advice needed re dog biting a delivery man's hand which was through the letterbox



## MammaBear (May 5, 2019)

Hi, I'm after some advice please. On Friday a DHL delivery guy tried to deliver some parcels to our house. We have 3 dogs, all of whom are very yappy. But they are also very soft. When anyone comes to the door (or indeed even walks past the house on the opposite side of the road) they make a huge amount of noise. Anyway, as I arrived home on Friday after picking up the largest of our 3 dogs up from the groomers there was a delivery guy stood outside holding his hands whilst my hubby stood there looking harassed. My OH promptly told me this guy had been bitten whilst posting a card through the door. I asked the guy to take a look at the bite. He had a couple of surface marks on the tops of 2 fingers & a puncture wound in between the 1st & 2nd knuckles of 1 finger. He said to me he couldn't grip or bend his fingers. So I went to my door to see how far through he would've had to have had his hand to get bitten. It seemed to me quite a long way.
Anyway we swapped info & he left. I found the delivery card with a lovely set of teeth marks in it. From this I would say the guy would have needed to have had his hand pushed a long way through. Due to the racket our dogs would've made when he rang initially it would've been very obvious there were dogs in the house. So I have no idea why he would've pushed his hand through in the first place. I phoned DHL wanting to speak to his manager but they wouldn't t put me through. The guy in their customer services said they were aware of the incident but that the delivery guy was going to finish his shift before getting his hand checked. So I just wondered if anyone else had been put in a similar situation & what happened? Thanks in advance.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

So let me get this straight... You expect that people working think it's acceptable to get bitten as they go about their work as they can hear dogs?

Am sure you would have been annoyed if the delivery driver didn't post the card throughout through the letterbox and it had got lost, blown away out your letter box. Straight on the phone to complain no one tried to deliver a parcel no doubt. This is why people throughout push cards/letters through the letterbox, and this is why those who have dogs that can be a nuisance at the letterbox don't let them have access or fit a letter cage over the letterbox at the very least..some have an outside letterbox to avoid issues.

A puncture wound is not nothing caused by a dog. It's a bite at the end of the day. What becomes of it will all depend. The company may at the very least refuse to deliver to you. 

I am sure with the amount of households with dogs, many that bark with a doorbell ringing, knock at the door pushing something through the letterbox that driver has probably done many a time on that day he wasn't hoping to get bitten.


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## Bugsys grandma (Aug 3, 2018)

A few years ago some friends of ours had a very similar situation occur. Very similar level of damage to the delivery guys hand, from what you describe. 
Our friends firstly, took total responsibility for the incident, they obviously profusely apologised, they insisted the guy went to the hospital and had his hand properly cleaned and dressed, they offered to pay the guys lost hours of wages while he was at the hospital and paid for any prescription costs, extra dressings etc that he might need. 
They then immediately had an outside letter box fitted and bolted up their letterbox. 

I would imagine the outcome of your incident will very much depend on the actual level of damage done to this guys hand, and probably his personality. If he is a dog lover, he will possibly not make too much of a fuss once he's over the initial shock. If he's a dog hater ( I know,I don't get it either , but there are some of them out there) then you may have a bit more of a problem on your hands. 
I have no idea where the actual law stands regarding this kind of incident. It might be worth you doing a bit of research and finding that out. 

I would strongly suggest you fit a cage or something as a matter of urgency, it will stop this kind of thing happening again and show the company that you are taking this seriously and learning from the incident.

I have an outside letterbox and my actual letterbox is bolted shut, not because my dogs have ever bitten anyone, but because many years ago some very nasty people were putting poison meat through the letterboxes of people with dogs in our area!


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

I would contact Dog Law for advice. They are solicitors who specialise n dog law so will be the best people to tell you how to proceed https://www.doglaw.co.uk/contact-us/

In the mean time then I would ensure the dogs are never able to do this again by either restricting their access to the door, having an outside letter box installed or a surround to your existing letterbox.

It is unfair on delivery people to have to deal with this. I was speaking to one Amazon delivery driver the other day & couldn't believe the amount of problems he has with dogs & then rude owners who refuse to control their dogs when asked.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

@MammaBear: I take it your postman has delivered daily to your home without any such incident? I used to have a cage on the inside of my door (admittedly very unsightly) - this was to stop the dog shredding the post; the postman never put his hand far enough through to get his fingers bitten.
Maybe he was new to the job.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Calvine said:


> @MammaBear: I take it your postman has delivered daily to your home without any such incident? I used to have a cage on the inside of my door (admittedly very unsightly) - this was to stop the dog shredding the post; the postman never put his hand far enough through to get his fingers bitten.
> Maybe he was new to the job.


Depends on the letterbox how far people push post in, size of letters etc. We had a terrible post woman for a few weeks last summer who didn't post letters fully through letterboxes and some were found in the street.


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## delca1 (Oct 29, 2011)

I have had to deliver locally quite a few times and I am very conscious of the fact that there could be a dog waiting the other side of the door even if there is no barking so I tried not to get my hand through. Some letterboxes are stiffer or more awkward than others and the only way to ensure post wasn't visible from the outside my hand (finger tips) were possibly vulnerable, also some things can be posted easily but softer more bendy things need a bit more help. The best thing to do in my opinion is, as others have said, fit a letter guard on the inside or have an external box although recently a neighbour had a major fraud issue when someone used her address to open a bank account but removed the card and pin no. letters as soon as they arrived - noot saying how in public but it was very clever!


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

MammaBear said:


> but that the delivery guy was going to finish his shift before getting his hand checked.


How odd. Seems if he was injured he would have sought treatment right away. However I do agree about boxing in your letter slot.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

lorilu said:


> How odd. Seems if he was injured he would have sought treatment right away. However I do agree about boxing in your letter slot.


A lot are poorly paid & will be penalised financially if they miss deliveries or are late with them. It depends on each company obviously but some people I have spoken to have such tight schedules that they daren't be late & risk losing £££'s or even their job.


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## Jackie C (Feb 16, 2016)

Cleo38 said:


> A lot are poorly paid & will be penalised financially if they miss deliveries or are late with them. It depends on each company obviously but some people I have spoken to have such tight schedules that they daren't be late & risk losing £££'s or even their job.


Sadly this is very true, I've heard about it as well. Amazon are terrible for it, they have a set time to deliver, and get penalised if they don't stick to the set schedule, but I don't know about DHL. The guy might have been in shock, and just went onto automatic and thought he could cope for the rest of the shift. I know it's not the same, but I've seen nurses assaulted and they're in shock, but just carry on for the rest of the shift, unless someone tells them to go home. His supervisor should have made him go to the hospital immediately!


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Jackie C said:


> Amazon are terrible for it, they have a set time to deliver,


And apparently (or so I read) the ones in the warehouses have x seconds to find each item, and are timed if they use the toilet. I also read that they are so poorly paid that many of them sleep in tents and some in _cardboard boxes_ as they cannot afford to pay for fares out of their meagre earnings. Really awful company to work for if you can believe what you read. Didn't Amazon get a massively reduced tax bill not long ago for some reason?


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## niamh123 (Nov 4, 2018)

My brother in law is a postie and has been bitten numerous times whilst out delivering he has been bitten 3 times by the same dog after the 3rd time Royal Mail has now stopped posting to this customer and they need to go to the main sorting office to collect their mail


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## Jackie C (Feb 16, 2016)

Calvine said:


> And apparently (or so I read) the ones in the warehouses have x seconds to find each item, and are timed if they use the toilet. I also read that they are so poorly paid that many of them sleep in tents and some in _cardboard boxes_ as they cannot afford to pay for fares out of their meagre earnings. Really awful company to work for if you can believe what you read. Didn't Amazon get a massively reduced tax bill not long ago for some reason?


Sadly, I've read this too. And Amazon pays little or not tax in Britain. I've got to stop using them.


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## Guest (May 7, 2019)

niamh123 said:


> My brother in law is a postie and has been bitten numerous times whilst out delivering he has been bitten 3 times by the same dog after the 3rd time Royal Mail has now stopped posting to this customer and they need to go to the main sorting office to collect their mail


It always amazes me that a lot of the posties and one of our courier delivery people does too, wear shorts throughout the year whatever the weather, when they seem to be the most vulnerable to be bitten.


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## niamh123 (Nov 4, 2018)

Yodel get penalised if a customer isn't in when they deliver Xmas time some of our parcels were left in the recycling bin,some put over the garden fence and sometimes if we were lucky with a neighbour but they always left a card one day when he came to deliver parcels I asked why he was leaving them in the bin and over the fence he then went on to tell me that for every parcel they take back to their depo the lose a %of their wage


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## niamh123 (Nov 4, 2018)

They wear shorts so if it rains they aren't stuck in wet clothing for the rest of their shift


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

niamh123 said:


> Yodel get penalised if a customer isn't in when they deliver Xmas time some of our parcels were left in the recycling bin,some put over the garden fence and sometimes if we were lucky with a neighbour but they always left a card one day when he came to deliver parcels I asked why he was leaving them in the bin and over the fence he then went on to tell me that for every parcel they take back to their depo the lose a %of their wage


Some have terrible conditions & I wonder how legal they are. One driver I spoke to last year had one of his friends helping him out on his round as he was overloaded with deliveries (it was Christmas) but was terrified he was going to lose his job for not getting them to the customers on time.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Jackie C said:


> Sadly, I've read this too. And Amazon pays little or not tax in Britain. I've got to stop using them.


Me too @Jackie C; but is it just Amazon? I currently have a superb Yodel guy who is really on the ball (and my boxes are dead heavy) and I would hate to think he was having to put up with this sort of crap. He is so grateful if I offer to sign for a neighbour who is out that I really hope he makes a living wage. Lovely guy, always polite, happy and helpful.


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## Guest (May 7, 2019)

niamh123 said:


> They wear shorts so if it rains they aren't stuck in wet clothing for the rest of their shift


Gosh I didn't realise there was a reason, just a personal thing, but it makes perfect sense.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

niamh123 said:


> Yodel get penalised if a customer isn't in when they deliver Xmas time some of our parcels were left in the recycling bin,some put over the garden fence and sometimes if we were lucky with a neighbour but they always left a card one day when he came to deliver parcels I asked why he was leaving them in the bin and over the fence he then went on to tell me that for every parcel they take back to their depo the lose a %of their wage


Really? When I used to get Zooplus orders delivered via Yodel, they didn't even tell me in advance which day they were coming, let alone a time slot so I could be in. And if I tried tracking the delivery, the best I could get was that it was out for delivery on the day itself.


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## Guest (May 8, 2019)

We had wine delivered last week from Yodel and we were given a tracking number and a map of where the driver is and how many ‘drops’ before he gets to you, and as requested was left safely in our porch.


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## tabulahrasa (Nov 4, 2012)

You can’t push delivery cards through without pushing your hand through, they’re too small and flimsy.

Actual post goes in fine most times, delivery cards just don’t...

Loads of dogs bark when you’re trying to deliver a parcel, they rarely bite (well, it happened to me twice in a year, but I got barked at at every second or third house, so relatively rarely)


And depending on how he’s employed/contracted he won’t get paid at all if he doesn’t deliver the rest of his round.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

niamh123 said:


> Yodel get penalised if a customer isn't in when they deliver Xmas time some of our parcels were left in the recycling bin,some put over the garden fence and sometimes if we were lucky with a neighbour but they always left a card one day when he came to deliver parcels I asked why he was leaving them in the bin and over the fence he then went on to tell me that for every parcel they take back to their depo the lose a %of their wage


That is awful, poor guys.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Burrowzig said:


> Really? When I used to get Zooplus orders delivered via Yodel, they didn't even tell me in advance which day they were coming, let alone a time slot so I could be in. And if I tried tracking the delivery, the best I could get was that it was out for delivery on the day itself.


They must have improved massively. Now I get a text/email at about 09.00 to tell me it's on its way, also a link which does proper tracking (gives you a two hour window). But I stopped using them because a few years back they were indescribably terrible, my cat food used to end up all over the pavement. I was told, not sure if it's true, that the drivers are self-employed so the sort of service you get depends very much on the driver himself. Amazon annoy me saying you can ''track your parcel here) when in fact all they say is that the guy will be there before 9 pm.


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## Smianhead (Oct 5, 2016)

Ralph is a little terror when it comes to the delivery driver or postman.... he will try and tgear the letter through the door or just bark until they leave. Either way we have had to make sure he has NO access to the Hallway when we leave the house - for everyones safety.

That being said, there are several things you can do to prevent such things happening.

You can try to place your dog in the backyard when the post man arrives
Try to fix a strong mailbox near the edge of the house
Restrict access to the back garden so your pet cannot come out in the front
We have tried introducing Ralph to the postman and hoped it would help.... however, he thought that this meant every time they turned up he had to go outside so it got more frustrating. Then he started again at the post!


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

CazTzu said:


> We had wine delivered last week from Yodel and we were given a tracking number and a map of where the driver is and how many 'drops' before he gets to you, and as requested was left safely in our porch.


That's what mine does too; he's a gem.


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## Smianhead (Oct 5, 2016)

my Mrs gets her body shop online order from DPD and the service they provide is amazing - e know when hes on his way or how far away he is... this helps us make sure we get Ralph outside in time..... he doesnt like Jamie the DPD Driver


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