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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgScottish court orders dog owner to pay £400 compensation to cyclist bitten twice by German Shepherd
A cyclist in Scotland has received £400 in compensation after he was twice bitten by a German Shepherd dog while out for a ride.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that the rider received puncture wounds to his left leg with a “significant amount of blood coming from them” following the incident which happened at around 10.30am on 30 May this year, reports the Evening Express.
The cyclist was riding past Hatton Farm, Laurencekirk, which lies on the main road from Aberdeen to Dundee, when he spotted the dog heading towards him, said depute fiscal Katy Begg, prosecuting the dog’s owner, Robert Weir, aged 66.
“He stopped to pet the dog and noticed the accused standing approximately 100 metres down the road,” she said.
“He began to cycle away and felt a sharp pain in his left calf and saw the dog had bitten his leg.”
The cyclist said to Weir, “Your dog has just bitten me” and was riding towards him when the dog bit him for a second time.
It tried to bite him on a third occasion but was restrained by its owner.
According to defence agent Liam McAllister, Weir, who had pleaded guilty to having a dangerously out of control dog, had investigated getting a muzzle so there would be no similar incident in the future.
He added that the dog had been rescued and had suffered abuse as a puppy, adding: “It’s thought there might have been an incident with a cyclist in the past.”
Weir was told to pay the rider £400 in compensation by Sheriff Ian Wallace.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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30 comments
Squuueeeak! Erm no, Woof, woof! Ahem, nope, not me
...
Or two.
P20141227_095935_P1030174.JPG
HawkinsPeter, no pictures of unbelievable cute fluffy dog?
Ok, just one.
P20141227_095925_P1030173.JPG
You can't fool us. That's a squirrel in a dog costume.
Aren't we all, in some sense, just squirrels in dog costumes?
2b2aeee82f589267dee26d8e6c46a2a0.jpg
Just had a woman on the shared Greenway shout "You're welcome!" as I rode past. I think it was in connection to her having to grab her, off the lead, dog by the collar to prevent it causing an accident.
I'm still trying to work out why I should thank her for doing the bare minimum of using a shared path.
Perhaps I should shout "You're welcome!" at all those peds I have the decency of not cycling into.
You could always point her at the Highway Code section for dog owners https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-about-animals-47-to-58
"Rule 56
Dogs. Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders."
And point out that it is the law that dogs have to be under control in a public place.
Then she will be sure to thank you properly.
Experience tells me that it's not worth it. They're not interested and as it's only a should and not a must with no legal teeth, as it were.
Just to be even more confusing that it usually is, the HC on dogs is neither "must" nor "should", but the law is pretty clear:
https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public
"Overview
It’s against the law to let a dog be dangerously out of control anywhere, such as:
in a public place
in a private place, for example a neighbour’s house or garden
in the owner’s home
The law applies to all dogs.
Some types of dogs are banned.
Out of control
Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:
injures someone
makes someone worried that it might injure them"
I got bitten by a dog this year whilst buying a mountain bike for a friend, dog was in the back garden and was fussing around whilst we were chatting. Made the stupid mistake of going to stroke it and it facking well bit me, "oh" she says, "I should have warned you and got the dog inside". Really was not impressed given the blood coming out the puncture wound in my finger end.
Never buying a mountain bike again!
£400 fine isn't that much considering things but it's more than if you kill someone on a bike in some instances!
Ahem... Mr. Hawkiiiiiiins?
What?
article-0-07572798000005DC-174_634x424.jpg
Anyone ever been bitten by a squirel?
I love the way some dog owners give you that bemused sneering smile and then say "he won't bite", as their darling pet races after you baring his teeth!
The owners really don't seem to understand that not everyone likes dogs and that owners have the responsiblity to make sure no human or other dog is negatively affected by their pet's actions.
I say this as a once-upon-a-time co-owner of a very well behaved dog who just liked to keep himself to himself on walks, would never jump up or growl at people and always came back when called.
I hasten to add he was also always on a short lead on paths and pavements.
All dogs should be like this and if they can't be trusted, they should be muzzled in public.
Unclip one foot.
Look the owner squarely in the eye and say "No, it won't, will it?".
"Does your dog bite?"
"No"
Chomp
"You said your dog didn't bite"
"That's not my dog"
Bear in mind that if you were to kick an animal that has not attacked you, the owner would be within their rights to report you. The law works both ways remember.
Kick an animal? Where do you get that from? I am allowed to defend myself and the law will usually look at the first infraction, best you keep your dog on its lead and prevent the first law being broken and forcing people to defend themselves, innit? And taking a foot out of the clips isn't exactly an infraction in the eyes of the law either.
If a dog is running at me, as far as I'm concerned it's attacking me.
As a dog lover, I don't understand how you'd want to put your diog in a position of being injured, seems very selfish to me.
I protected mine by keeping her on a lead when in public areas and only lettiing her off when out of sight of the houses and others. Didn't stop the poor little mite being attacked by a German Shepherd, which was loose and a good 30-40m away from the walker, when close to home and on the lead. The poor little thing struggled to defend herself as she was on a short lead. I mentioned to the girl who was walking the German Shepherd that she should get her dog under control as the 35kg Staffie at the end of my lead would probably fucking slaughter it if I were to slip mine off the lead. Irresponsible dog owners piss me off.
You said this:
"Kick an animal? Where do you get that from? I am allowed to defend myself and the law will usually look at the first infraction."
And then you said this:
"If a dog is running at me, as far as I'm concerned it's attacking me."
A dog may run towards you but that may not mean it's attacking you. If you kick a dog that has not chased you in a threatening manner (growling and snapping and with its fur standing up) or has actually bitten you, then you are the aggressor in the eye of the law. Kicking an animal is an offence.
I've been chased by dogs on my bike. It's not a nice experience when they appear dangerous.
That still does not give any cyclist the right to kick an animal, unless attacked first.
Irresponsible people piss me off. Those people can be dog owners, car drivers, cyclists or whatever.
To be fair, if a dog is not on a lead and is running towards you, then it'll be fairly obvious whether it's being aggressive or not (hint - friendly dogs don't tend to run towards you unless you're beckoning them/just thrown a ball etc).
We were looking after a friend's dog over Xmas and he (the dog) is possibly the most inoffensive, gentle dog that I've ever met. However, he does have a tendency to run towards groups of women as he knows how cute he looks and women are powerless to resist his fluffiness.
Come back when you can show me that I said that I would kick a dog. Otherwise I struggle to take anything else you say seriously as you clearly have a penchant for invention.
Have had a few calls with unleashed dogs over the years whilst cycling and running and once when just out walking with small children. Been bitten once. The thing that annoys me is when the owner knows the animal has issues with cyclists / runners / men or whatever and still can't make the effort to keep it on a leash whilst in a public place.
I was bitten by a pretty innocuous-looking dog on the hill above Perth this summer. I got properly angry with the owner, who refused to give his name or address - in hindsight I should have called the police on the spot and stayed with him until they arrived, as a photo subsequently made no use to the dog ranger. That afternoon was buggered by a trip to the doctors to get it cleaned out and a jab.
I think I was most cross at the idea that had I been cycling with my autistic son, that experience - let alone possible injury to him - could have been life-changing. My blood boils now to think of it.
Then a few weeks back a woman's labrador had a real go at me in a forest park. I thought I had it on video but the camera was too caked in mud to get a good shot. Again, I wish I'd called the cops on the spot.
I think we as a society underestimate the fear some have of dogs, and the responsability owners have to keep them under close control - Scottish law is very explicit on what 'dangerously out of control' means. The next dog that rushes me is likely to end up with a size 45 Northwave-backed SPD impression in its head. Kick the dog as hard as you can first, ask questions later - you are perfectly entitled to defend yourself. I've learnt that no dog can be trusted, and the consequences of interaction with a cyclist at speed could be life-changing for the rider.
And I say this as a dog owner of the last decade.
Anyone else getting déjà vu?
Road.cc writer fined £400 for posting same story twice.
"Scottish court orders dog owner to pay £400 compensation to cyclist bitten twice by German Shepherd"
I for one, will be grateful when we've left the EU and these rabid, out of control foreigners taking all the shepherds' jobs will be sent back to wherever they came from.
"An incident with a cyclist in the past".
Anything else the defendant might like to make up as an excuse?
When out in public, I find dogs on short leads are very predictable.
Dogs can be unpredictable. I know mine is. Luckily for me he's very calm around humans. I see plenty of dogs that aren't. Sometimes it's because the owners are morons who shouldn't be trusted with a goldfish, let alone a dog. Sometimes rescue dogs can have had a tough life. They can be particularly unpredictable. Some are great. Some are damaged.
Having a dog (again) means I'm far better now at reading the signs when I see a dog I'm not familiar with. You can often tell if a dog is troubled or scared.