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Scottish court orders dog owner to pay £400 compensation to cyclist bitten twice by German Shepherd

Rider stopped to pet dog while cycling near Laurencekirk in Scotland

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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9 comments

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David9694 | 5 years ago
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Of the 9 mllion dogs in the UK I’ve got two living over the back fence - protecting their property my left foot.  A bit noisy my right foot. They just bark inanely and the owners do nothing about it.  It’s just an intrusion into my life, unwelcome, as all intrusions are. Yet somehow i’m deemed Intolerant if I make a fuss. 

Of the 9 million, maybe 8.5 m are in happy homes? my local newspaper is constantly full of articles Dog of the Week, looking for a good home - but no other pets, or children tells you something about the life the poor wretched thing has had so far.  

“He’s only playing” or melt away is the standard dog owner response when you are menaced by one of these things, so good to see the law being laid down here. No lasting damage, I hope.

 

 

 

 

It 

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Eton Rifle | 5 years ago
1 like

7,000 hospital admissions a year from dog attacks, several deaths, dog barking one of the leading causes of noise complaints, I think my comments reflect reality. 

It is the lack of regulation of ownership that baffles me; I would not be allowed to own a shotgun without some form of vetting, yet I could buy a dog the size of a Shetland pony, with jaws as powerful as a set of bolt cutters, fully capable of maiming or killing an adult human, with no checks whatsoever. 

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burtthebike replied to Eton Rifle | 5 years ago
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Eton Rifle wrote:

7,000 hospital admissions a year from dog attacks, several deaths, dog barking one of the leading causes of noise complaints, I think my comments reflect reality. 

It is the lack of regulation of ownership that baffles me; I would not be allowed to own a shotgun without some form of vetting, yet I could buy a dog the size of a Shetland pony, with jaws as powerful as a set of bolt cutters, fully capable of maiming or killing an adult human, with no checks whatsoever. 

The death figure look remarkably similar to pedestrians involved in collision with a cyclist, but I can't find a figure for pedestrians injured, and of course we all know that it isn't always the cyclist that bites the pedestrian.  I wonder where the outrage about dogs is?  Like this for instance https://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/57065/cyclists-almost-likely-injure-pe...

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Hirsute replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like
burtthebike wrote:

I wonder where the outrage about dogs is?  Like this for instance https://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/57065/cyclists-almost-likely-injure-pe...

I wonder the source of those and what sort of adjustments were made for non pedestrian miles covered by vehicles.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
3 likes

burtthebike wrote:

Eton Rifle wrote:

7,000 hospital admissions a year from dog attacks, several deaths, dog barking one of the leading causes of noise complaints, I think my comments reflect reality. 

It is the lack of regulation of ownership that baffles me; I would not be allowed to own a shotgun without some form of vetting, yet I could buy a dog the size of a Shetland pony, with jaws as powerful as a set of bolt cutters, fully capable of maiming or killing an adult human, with no checks whatsoever. 

The death figure look remarkably similar to pedestrians involved in collision with a cyclist, but I can't find a figure for pedestrians injured, and of course we all know that it isn't always the cyclist that bites the pedestrian.  I wonder where the outrage about dogs is?  Like this for instance https://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/57065/cyclists-almost-likely-injure-pe...

Typically slanted bullshit that does not take into account who was at fault. Like the oft touted stat about cyclists killing peds being 1% of all road deaths, which is an absolute crock of shit.

In the last 7 years, cyclists were attributed fault only FOUR times for the deaths of others, that's the governments own stats in the big report on how we can bash the fuck out of cyclists earlier this year. That little stat was hidden away right at the end in as small a font as possible, over the same period around 12,500 people were killed on our roads, cyclists at fault for deaths is 0.03% of all road deaths!

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Brown dog replied to Eton Rifle | 5 years ago
1 like

Eton Rifle wrote:

7,000 hospital admissions a year from dog attacks, several deaths, dog barking one of the leading causes of noise complaints, I think my comments reflect reality. 

It is the lack of regulation of ownership that baffles me; I would not be allowed to own a shotgun without some form of vetting, yet I could buy a dog the size of a Shetland pony, with jaws as powerful as a set of bolt cutters, fully capable of maiming or killing an adult human, with no checks whatsoever. 

your comments don’t reflect reality ......  There around 9 million dogs in the UK and if there are 7,000 attacks then the risk of attack’s will we low, so in reality you are unlikely to be attcked by a dog. 

 

 

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don simon fbpe replied to Brown dog | 5 years ago
4 likes

Brown dog wrote:

Eton Rifle wrote:

7,000 hospital admissions a year from dog attacks, several deaths, dog barking one of the leading causes of noise complaints, I think my comments reflect reality. 

It is the lack of regulation of ownership that baffles me; I would not be allowed to own a shotgun without some form of vetting, yet I could buy a dog the size of a Shetland pony, with jaws as powerful as a set of bolt cutters, fully capable of maiming or killing an adult human, with no checks whatsoever. 

your comments don’t reflect reality ......  There around 9 million dogs in the UK and if there are 7,000 attacks then the risk of attack’s will we low, so in reality you are unlikely to be attcked by a dog. 

 

 

Attacks serious enough to warrant a hospital visit. I wonder how many more there are that have gone unreported, I know mine was.

Or serious enough to be in breach of the law? But still go unreported.

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Eton Rifle | 5 years ago
3 likes

Glad to see the courts starting to take notice of the unrestricted ownership of these dirty, noisy, dangerous animals and the fact that their owners are rarely called to account for the damage they cause. 

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hawkinspeter replied to Eton Rifle | 5 years ago
5 likes

Eton Rifle wrote:

Glad to see the courts starting to take notice of the unrestricted ownership of these dirty, noisy, dangerous animals and the fact that their owners are rarely called to account for the damage they cause. 

I totally agree about holding the owners responsible for what their animals do, but as a dog-lover, I'm not sure I agree with how you characterise dogs.

Well okay, they are reasonably dirty and even when you wash them, they'll try to find a big pile of dirt to roll in. I suppose they are quite noisy at times, but then they're just protecting the property from intruders, post and any other dogs that walk past the house or just in case.

However, they're not dangerous if they're trained not to be (although this one obviously was).

Anyway, they really truly love their owners - just lock your partner and your dog into a car boot for a few hours and see which one is pleased to see you when you let them out.

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