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Uninsured dogs – the answer ?

  • August 9, 2012
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Claim for your dogbite

An increase in the number of people admitted to hospital as a result of dog bites has increased over the past year with 6,450 reported cases with over 750 of them being children who needed surgery

But what happens when you want to bring a claim and the dog owner has no insurance nor the means to settle any claim against them leaving the victim scarred and traumatised without recourse to compensation for their injury and losses.

The problem is that the dogs that do the most damage are those which are least likely to have appropriate insurance cover.

Two possible ideas come to mind:

compulsory insurance – all dogs to carry insurance and, as part of the policy, the dog is chipped with insurance details. If a dog is found without insurance, this could be done by random scanning by dog wardens, then the dog is seized and the owner has 28 days to produced proof of insurance or the dog is rehoused – this is not meant to be a short cut to the destroying of dogs but as a means of ensuring responsible ownership.

DIB – there is the Motor Insurer’s Bureau; why not have a dog insurer’s bureau as insurer of last resort so if the owner can’t be traced or doesn’t have insurance then the DIB would cover it and seek recovery from the owner as the MIB does for unbraced or uninsured motorists.

If you have been bitten by a dog and want to claim compensation contact Mike Massen of Gartons Solicitors on 0113 237 9617 or email him at mmassen@gartonsolicitors.co.uk. Full details can be found at our dedicated dogbite claim website.

 

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