WELLINGTON man Richard Lettley is out of hospital following an attack by a Rottweiler.

The 69-year-old former butcher and milkman was bitten on both hands during the attack at Rockwell Green and eventually spent four days in Musgrove Park Hospital after one of his hands became three times its size.

“A nurse took one look at the hand when I went to have it dressed and decided I needed to be hospitalised. It was the last thing I wanted,” he said.

Mr Lettley was delivering a letter for Welly Post, a cut-price postal service run by newsagents E J Teare in South Street, Wellington.

He has received no apology from the owner of the dog who has not been prepared to sign a written undertaking to keep his dog under control.

The owner felt his dog was in his own garden protecting his property.

Mr Lettley’s big fear is that the dog could attack a child. “I don’t know what the outcome would be if that happened,” he said. “I was terrified when the dog came at me. I thought he might bring me down on the ground. It could have been much more serious.”