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Following a massive campaign by the CWU on the need to change the law and extend the Dangerous Dogs Act to include private property, this week’s Queens speech finally mentioned changes to the legislation.
 Dave Joyce, the union’s Health and Safety officer has spear headed the campaign for over 6 years and can now see the light of day on changes which hopefully will help to resolve an issue which until today; has not seen legislation since the Thatcher ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to death and injury caused by a dangerous dog.
The legislation she brought in did absolutely zilch to protect postal workers as it deliberately left out any concerns for those injured by dangerous dogs whilst on private property.
Applauding the commitment from the government in the Queen’s speech, Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said:
"Today is the culmination of six years of hard campaign work to improve dangerous dogs laws to better protect victims of attacks and promote more responsible dog ownership. Westminster has finally followed the lead of Scotland and Northern Ireland in addressing the failings of the Dangerous Dogs Act.
The extension of the law to private property will protect thousands of postal workers, telecom engineers and others who have to work on private property for their job and who have been left without protection if attacked by dogs. Compulsory microchipping will be another help, but it's a shame the government isn't implementing preventative measures such as Dog Control Notices. We have some reservations about how accessible this legislation will be for enforcement agencies, but nevertheless it is undoubtedly an improvement and giant step forwards."
CWU will be taking part in the EFRA Select Committee's evidence session in May and will continue to monitor the progress of this legislation closely to ensure it achieves the best possible outcome.
Source: CWU
Download the latest documentary evidence of the carnage caused by dangerous dogs from the E-Library Database here
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