A GREAT-grandmother has told how a daily bus ride turned to terror when she was attacked by a Rottweiler.
The angry 74-year-old is now calling for dogs to be muzzled on public transport, after being left needing hospital treatment for a bite wound to her right thigh.
And she fears had the dog gone for a child, the consequences could have been far more serious.
The pensioner, who does not want to be named because of her ordeal, had boarded the No7 Stagecoach bus at Imeary Street, Westoe, when a Rottweiler siting with two men at the front of the bus grabbed her leg.
At first, the great-grandmother-of-two thought she had caught her leg on something sharp, but when she looked down, she was shocked to see blood.
She immediately raised the alarm to the driver, who stopped the bus and contacted the police and an ambulance. The woman, from South Shields, said: “I can’t believe what’s happened. I’m still shaking about the whole thing now.
“I didn’t even see the dog when I got on the bus as I was too busy looking for a seat.
“But as I walked past, I felt this sharp pain in my leg. At first, I thought I had hit something sharp in someone’s bag, but when I looked down, I saw the dog’s saliva and blood on my clothes.
“I told the men their dog had bit me, but they seemed uninterested and didn’t even apologise.
“I was shaking. I called the driver over and he asked everyone to leave the bus. He took their names and addresses, and called the ambulance and the police.
“The men, when they got off the bus, just walked away, but the police caught them quite quickly.”
The pensioner, who needed a tetanus injection and is now undergoing a course of antibiotics following the attack, is now calling on dogs to be muzzled on public transport to curb any more attacks.
She added: “I don’t why they were on the bus with such a big dog – a dog like that needs exercise. And why wasn’t it muzzled.
“If it had been a child that had been walking past, it would have bitten their face or, worse, it could have been fatal.
“I’ve always had dogs, but I think if people are taking them on public transport, they need to be muzzled.”
It is believed the dog has since been put down after the attack at 1pm on Thursday.
Acting Neighbourhood Inspector Nick Gjorven said: “The police were called to a woman being bitten by a dog, and the dog’s owner was spoken to. We were told the dog has been put down.”
Mike Watson, operations director, Stagecoach North East, said: “We wish our passenger a swift recovery and whilst incidents such as these are rare, we take them very seriously and are liaising directly with the passenger concerned and the police in their enquiries.
“All requirements were met with regards to the carriage of animals as per our conditions of carriage.”
Twitter: @shieldsgazlisa
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