�A postman was bitten by a dog on his rounds in Chadwell Heath.

Chris Hadjipaulis, of Essex Road, Romford, received a puncture wound to his arm after a Staffordshire bull terrier sattacked him outside a home in Shepherds Close, he said.

The postman and his union, the Communication Worker Union (CWU), are now calling for more to be done to ensure the safety of Royal Mail staff.

The dog has not been removed by police and no arrests have been made.

Chris said he has been left shaken and wary of returning to his job: “I’ll have to go back as I need the money, but I am frightened.

“I’m a pretty big man but what happened was terrifying.”

‘Scared’

The father-of-four told the Recorder he was delivering parcels to a home when he heard the sound of barking.

“Someone opened the door,” he said, “and a dog came bounding from behind and went for my face, but just grazed it.

“Then it bit into my arm and held on for about 20 seconds. I was in agony and scared. The guy managed to drag him off in the end.”

A spokesmen for the CWU said the union wants the police to take dog attacks on postal workers more seriously and believes more should be done to encourage dog owners to be responsible.

“Our workers should not have to be scared of being attacked when they are delivering post,” he said.

A total of 18 postal workers were attacked in the Romford postcode area between April 2011 and April this year.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Although this figure fell by 18 per cent from 2010, it is still unacceptably high and we are working with our union, the CWU, to reduce this further.”