A POSTWOMAN told how she was attacked twice by dogs on her rounds and appealed for owners to keep their pets under control.

Nicola McGlynn, who works in Blackburn, needed hospital treatment on both occasions, once for a bite to her leg, and then when a finger was severed.

Nicola, 50, spoke out during Royal Mail’s Dog Awareness Week as the Lancashire Telegraph reported how figures revealed 150 postal workers were attacked by dogs during one year in the north west. Seven were in East Lancashire.

Nicola, who lives on Petre Crescent in Rishton, said the most recent incident was last month when she was delivering mail in the Higher Croft area of Blackburn.

She said: “I was posting some mail through the letterbox and the owner’s brother opened the door.

“The dog bit the end of my finger.

“It was a mess. I suffered nerve damage and it bit right through to the bone and broke my finger.

“It’s still a mess now.”

And despite that fact that much of Nicola’s work is depot-based, it was not the first time she had been bitten.

She said: “It has happened before. I got bitten in Langho. I was going into somebody’s house and an alsatian was round the back of the house.

“I didn’t see it and it came round and bit my leg. I had to go to hospital then too.”

Nicola is backing Royal Mail’s campaign — in association with the Communication Workers’ union, Dog’s Trust, Blue Cross, Wood Green and the Association of Dog Wardens — as her colleagues have to contend with potential dog-related injuries every working day.

She said: “It’s a very, very big problem, especially in this weather.

“People keep their dogs round the back and we don’t know they’re there.

“Some people just let them loose and we don’t know where they’re coming from.

“Some people just let them run wild and they should be inside.