Following the Government’s announcement of its consultation on dangerous dogs, Petplan, the pet insurance provider, has found an increase in the number of third party claims that it has received in recent years.
It appears that more people are going to court to seek financial compensation when problems arise, leaving dog owners without third party liability insurance facing a huge financial risk. The amount of claims paid out by Petplan on third party cases involving dogs in 2008 (the last complete year for which figures are available) was around £2 million in liability claims for household dogs, which represents an increase of almost 500 per cent since 1999.
Alison Andrew, Petplan Marketing Manager, said: “One of the reasons we are seeing this escalation in third party liability claims is because we are becoming an increasingly litigious society. The public in general is more aware of their legal recourse to recover damages when they feel they have been injured or aggrieved in some way.”