In May on a sunny Saturday morning a  Glasgow delivery postman from the Barrhead Delivery office was performing his normal delivery round on the city's Crossmill/ Dunterlie Estate when when a mindless twisted thug opened fire on him with a high powered air riffle. 

9 shots were fired and the luckless CWU member was hit twice, in the temple and in the face causing nasty injuries to his face where one of the pellets penetrated his upper lip and took out a front tooth.

After taking cover and calling 999 the emergency services and Police attended the scene after which he was rushed to the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley where he received the necessary emergency medical treatment and subsequently was afforded psychological support and assistance. Thankfully Glasgow Police quickly tracked down, arrested a suspect who was charged with the crime and remained in custody.

This Month Grant Finnigan appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court where he pleaded guilty to being in possession of a Firearm and Ammunition and guilty to recklessly discharging a firearm at another person causing injury and bodily harm. Finnigan was sentenced to Five Years and Three Months in Prison.

National Health and Saferty Officer Dave Joyce condemned the actions of the mindless gun thug who perpetrated the crime and said "the CWU welcomes the sentence handed down to Finnigan which is fully justified. Postal workers provide  a vitally important community job and deserve to work in a safe environment with the full protection of the law. I would like to thank the Glasgow Police and the Court on this occasion".

He went on "This incident sadly demonstrates the type of environment and society which our members live and work in, facing the risk of assaults, robberies and dog attacks for example. Fortunately, incidents of this nature remain relatively low in comparison with the number of people we have out working in the streets and in contact with the public, but the situation is not getting any better and this calls for a suitable level of vigilance."

He concluded "It's important that Area Safety Representatives and other branch officials ensure that "high risk areas" are jointly monitored and that agreed "walk safe" assaults policy risk assessments are regularly reviewed and kept up to date. The safety, security and wellbeing of our members is of paramount importance."