The Communication Workers Union today (Monday) welcomes the publication of guidance on sentencing the owners of dangerous dogs, but says that a change in the law is needed to get the full benefit.
Dave Joyce, CWU health, safety and environment officer, said: “We warmly welcome today’s publication of sentencing guidelines on dangerous dogs.
“There wasn’t – and never has been – any guidance on sentencing for dangerous dog related crime. We’ve pointed this out in our Bite Back campaign because the lack of guidance was leading to inconsistent and inadequate sentences.
“We still need a change in the law to get the full benefit of this change in sentencing as this will only apply to successful prosecutions, of which there are still far too few in relation to the number of dog attacks.
“Thousands of innocent people – including young children and postal workers – are being attacked by dogs every year. The change in sentencing is welcome but much more needs to be done to prevent attacks from happening in the first place and to encourage more responsible dog ownership.”
CWU is the biggest union in the communications sector with over 220,000 members in post, telecoms, support and financial services. The union launched its Bite Back campaign in 2008 to raise awareness and secure changes on dangerous dogs issues after 2 Postmen were nearly killed in dog attacks and 6,500 postal workers were injured by dogs that year. In the last 12 months 10 postal workers have had fingers bitten off in attacks and earlier this year a Postman nearly lost a leg and remains disabled..
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For more information please contact:
Sian Jones, Press Officer, tel: 
020 8971 7267, mobile: 0779 3314249, e-mail: sbjones@cwu.org
www.cwu.org www.cwutv.org Twitter: @CWUnews
