A DUBLIN gas meter reader who severed the tip of a finger in a ground-level letterbox has failed in a £30,000 damages claim.
After the dismissal of his claim in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday, Mr Niall O'Carroll (57), of Old Bawn, Co Dublin, said he would be appealing to the High Court. He was suing Mr Donald Browne, the owner, of the house in Rathfarnham, and the woman who was renting it, at the time of the accident, Ms Fiona Wiley.
Mr O'Carroll said he had called to read the gas meter and as no one was at home he put his call card through the ground-level letter box. As he withdrew his hand the letter flap closed forcibly on his hand middle finger was cut off.
The fingertip was later recovered and an operation next day to graft it back on was unsuccessful. Shortly afterwards a piece from his arm was successful grafted but his finger was still noticeably shorter.
An engineer, Mr Barry Tennyson, said there was a 1.5 kilogram return force on the letter flap spring, which he considered too strong for a low-level letterbox.
He agreed with Mr Anthony Barr, counsel for the defendants, that if Mr O'Carroll had used both hands the accident would not have happened.
Mr Cahal Maguire, engineer for the defendants, said the letterbox was standard. He had allowed the flap to slam shut without restraint on his fingers without injury or bruising. He thought Mr O'Carroll's hand had become wedged and the amputation had been caused by a forceful withdrawal.
Judge Esmond Smyth said the fingers of half the postmen in Dublin would be off by now if he were to accept the plaintiff's contentions. He had great sympathy for Mr O'Carroll, who had received a serious injury, but he felt it was an unfortunate once-off incident.