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news
Keep dogs on lead sign (public domain).png£65k for cyclist injured in crash caused by retractable dog lead
A man knocked off his bike by an out-of-control dog on a retractable lead has won a £65,000 payout from the dog’s owner. Anthony Steele, 59, suffered a fractured skull when the dog leapt into his path while he was training for a Coast to Coast to event in Heysham in 2012.
Steele was riding with 10 other people when he noticed a group of people in the middle of the path and rang his bell to let them know he needed them to move aside.
Cyclist asks for consideration on shared use paths after garrotting with extendable dog lead
However, as he passed by, a dog is said to have leapt in front of him and his bike became caught up with the retractable lead causing him to fall. Steele was off work for seven weeks and required neuro-psychotherapeutic therapy and cognitive rehab.
Recalling the incident, Steele said:
“The last thing I can remember before hitting the ground was seeing a small white dog dart across my path and noticing the thin black lead getting trapped in my wheels. I had no idea of the severity of my injuries suffered until I had come round in hospital and my wife, Lynne informed me of the skull fracture.
“The experience has left me with permanent hearing loss, dizziness, headaches, balancing issues and pain in my right shoulder. I can’t quite believe that all of this has been caused by someone who could not control their dog or be aware of their surroundings.”
It took Steele three years to track down the woman in charge of the dog. The case was due to be heard at Manchester County Court, but an out-of-court settlement was reached and Steele will receive £65,000 to help pay for his rehabilitation.
He told The Telegraph that the woman involved had only been walking the dog for a friend.
"All I wanted out of this was to get the financial support I needed for my rehabilitation and to raise awareness of how dangerous retractable dog leads can be, especially if people don't know what they're doing with them.
"She's just a little old woman in her 70s. I don't believe she has a dog of her own, and this dog belonged to her friend. She certainly wasn't au fait with the lead so I think it just ran away with her, which is when I got tangled up in it.
"They can be quite complicated to work if you don't know what you're doing and sadly the consequences didn't work out well for me."
Dianne Yates, a partner at law firm Birchall Blackburn Law, which represented Steele, said: “Retractable leads are popular because they don’t confine dogs, however some extend to 26 feet and being such a distance from their owners can prove hazardous for cyclists, joggers and children.
“Mr Steele’s injuries could have been averted if the owner was in control. Instead, this complete lack of awareness and restraint has had a major impact on Mr Steel’s life. His dizziness and poor balance has meant he has struggled to get back on his bike or play football for fear of further injury.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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23 comments
With any luck the Castlereagh & Belfast Dog Wardens, together with the dog users of the Comber Greenway are following this story. The dog users think they have a god given right to harm cyclists and the Dog Wardens refuse to police the 'out of control' dogs.
I hope the compensation awarded helps this gentlemen, given the unpleasant inflicted injuries by the dog owner.
Not just the Greenway but also Seapark and Hazelnank. The former where folk are wanting cyclists banned and forcing them onto the Bangor and Belfast Roads just so they can walk their dogs. The later who are up in arms as they are being told to keep their dogs on a lead and a short one at that due to several incidents regardless of Hazelbank being the start of the main cycle path into the city on that side of the lough.
Let this be a lesson to all dog owners using paths or routes used by cyclists. IME most of the dogs and their owners I have encountered on cycle routes are a fecking menace with extendable leads. I too have had the flippin things extend across the width of the GBW and got stuck in my wheels as owners and their hound(s) effectively create a trip wire. Fortunately I have not come off, but I have been met with extreme abuse and violence. At the end of september a bald headed chav with two bull mastifs deliberately walked across as I was passing. I narrowly avoided the dogs but not without being kicked in the leg by him nearly knocking me down. He then set his dogs on me and chased after me shouting threats of extreme violence and abuse. I was going to report it to the police but what's the point, they DGAF, even though it was likely caught on CCTV. So comgratulations to this cyclist tracing this dog owner and successfully suing them for their anti-social behaviour. I hope she is insured otherwise she could be a lot poorer when the claimant enforces judgement for damages.
I fully understand the legal is right aspect, but I bet there is a time when this cyclist wished he had taken more precaution. No point being right if you're laid up in hospital. The £65k he received would be given back in a flash if he could go back to normal.
I ride around a large reservoir which has lots of cyclists and walkers, children pets and even sheep. When approaching any one of these I scrub off my speed and pass at a crawl . Anyone of those hazards can and do unexpected movements. It's an unfortunate case. He might of been able to lessen his injury to nothing if he had taken those simple precautions. .
You are correct, it might have prevented his injury. However the key point in the outcome of this case is that a dog is supposed to be under control, therefore injuries caused due to the animal are the fault of its owner, given the cyclist was behaving in a legal manner (if possibly riding quicker than you would, tho we dont really know).
Highway Code 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.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-about-animals-47-to-58
I use shared paths on my commute and dogs off leads and on long leads are a very real hazard.
As vehicles should Pass wide, slowly and safely. When in the presence of pedestrians and animals the same applies to the rider/cyclist.
Terrible injuries which seem to have blighted his long term health
Except that the story says that the dog leapt out as he was passing. How wide do you have to go to avoid a 26 feet long retractable lead? (27 feet, I know, but that's a lot wider than many roads, let alone park paths).
The onus in that situation is surely on the dog owner to make sure that the retractable lead is locked, so things like this don't happen. If not, well they could be walking their dog on the pavement and the dog gets run over because it's leapt out sideways (I know, I have enough trouble with our family dog on a 4-foot non-retractable lead, if he sees something on the other side of the road...).
The chap could have well given the pedestrians a wide pass, the accident was caused by a dog on the loose on a long retractable lead (and therefore would not necessarily be anywhere near it's owner/walker).
Parks are for everyone dog walkers, joggers, cyclists, children etc.
Why does this cyclist think he has a right to make people move out of the way, you see a dog, you slow down. Simple.
There aren't any parks on the coast to coast route so he should have been training on the road.
Would have been interesting to see how this went in court.
From the government website: 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, eg a neighbour’s house or garden
in the owner’s home
The law applies to all dogs.
Out of control
Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:
injures someone
makes someone worried that it might injure them
Penalties
You can get an unlimited fine or be sent to prison for up to 6 months (or both) if your dog is dangerously out of control. You may not be allowed to own a dog in the future and your dog may be destroyed.
If you let your dog injure someone you can be sent to prison for up to 5 years or fined (or both). If you deliberately use your dog to injure someone you could be charged with ‘malicious wounding’.
As mentioned above, I suspect it was the Owner's Dog Insurance that paid out, so I suspect the lawyers at the Insurance Company didn't think they would win
Erm - how about "Parks are for everyone dog walkers, joggers, cyclists, children etc. Why did those people and their dogs think that they had the right to take up the whole width of the path." Be considerate.
(Unfortunately, ringing a bell is usually used just to let people know you are there, *not* to get them to move out of the way. On a shared-use path, if people are being considerate, then they wouldn't be in a situation where they *had* to move out of the way for others to pass them).
got some news for you, he didn't see the dog until it darted across his path...
'Training'? where the fsck in the article does it say he was training?
Anyway, those extendible leads need to be outlawed. They give absolutely NO control over the animal and they are practically impossible to see...
No lead should be longer than 4 feet and all leads should have an appropriate rating for the weight of the animal... including a 4 point harness for any breed that can slip a collar.
Er, how about the first paragraph, in bold type.
As you and I were not there to witness the incident, your statement above is a load of crap.
Nowhere in the article does it say what speed he was going. For all you know the group may just have met up and be pottering slowly out of the park to start their training ride. You don't have to be going fast to suffer serious injuries; my two worst biking injuries were both innocuous looking falls at low speed.
As for how it would have gone in court - the cyclist would have won the case in court. The whole point of an out-of-court settlement is basically that one party knows they're going to lose so they cut their losses and pay up without the extra cost of legal proceedings.
According to the linked Telegraph article he wasn't in a park, it was on the Heysham promenade, so an entirely reasonable C2C route (if a rather unfortunate start/end)
Seems like a sensible outcome - based on what we know. FWIW it was probably her insurance that paid.
The Daily Mail ran this story. Some of the top-rated comments are worrying:
So Daily Mail reader would prefer to NHS to pay for the rehab. Interesting.
Well knock me down with a feather!
I ride regularly in Sutton Park. Dogs on retractable leads are the greatest single hazard I see there. Most dogs are fine off the lead, but if a dog is not sufficiently well behaved to be allowed off the lead, then it should be on a normal, short lead.