A dog owner says an Amazon delivery driver ran over his pet outside his house and failed to stop, leaving his family devastated and a £1,200 vet bill.
Steve Cockerham says his German shepherd Molly was badly injured on one of her hind legs and vets say she may need risky surgery or have to be put down following the incident on September 21.
Footage shows an unmarked white van going up his drive, but before the dog has had time to get up and escape from its path, the van drives over the animal, pushing her to the ground.
With the dog still underneath the van, the driver – working for an independent delivery firm on behalf of Amazon – turns around and leaves without delivering the package.
The online giant sent the Cockerham family, from Otley, West Yorkshire, a £25 pet bed as an apology, they claimed.
But Mr Cockerham, who says it could have been a child that was run over, is now doing battle with Amazon to force it to “properly acknowledge the serious damage caused by one of their delivery drivers and to take proactive steps to resolve this matter directly”.
He says he has been told the driver has not responded to a police warning, and is likely to face only minor penalties.
About the incident, Mr Cockerham wrote: “An Amazon delivery driver entered our property and ran over our 12-year-old German Shepherd, Molly, who had been sitting quietly in the yard.
“The driver drove forward over her, then reversed — narrowly missing her with the front wheels — as she scrambled out from underneath the vehicle.”
Molly’s treatment has included X-rays, he said but the vet said she might need “extensive surgery that she may not survive or the heartbreaking possibility that she may need to be put to sleep”.
He says she is effectively now a three-legged dog and that the family would buy a dog wheelchair to allow her to continue enjoying being outdoors.
Mr Cockerham slated Amazon’s handling of the case as “wholly inadequate” because he was told the firm will not consider reimbursing any veterinary expenses until Molly’s treatment is over and all final invoices are submitted.
“At present, we have already incurred £1,200 in costs, with treatment expected to continue for an extended period—potentially years,” he said.
“Amazon has also been deliberately unclear regarding which costs they will recognise, stating only that we must ‘provide the independent delivery company with all final, itemised bills’ before they will review the claim.
“This is not an acceptable approach to compensating for damage caused directly by their driver.”
He condemned Amazon’s apparent lack of response to his request for a reply within a 14-day deadline.
He said if was the most distressing of three damage claims he has brought against Amazon because it involved a living animal. “It could so easily have been a child,” he said.
Mr Cockerham said that two weeks after his dog was injured, his daughter Hollie was “approached and propositioned by two Amazon drivers working together while she was alone in the dark on our property”.
Amazon apologised and sent him a £10 voucher, he said.
“We have never experienced such behaviour from any other delivery company, and I no longer trust a number of the drivers Amazon employs which is a shame because some of them are exceptional.”
After he posted the footage on social media, Amazon contacted Mr Cockerham to say its executive enquiries team in the US were working towards resolving the matter as quickly as possible.
The Independent has approached Amazon for comment.
A spokesperson for the company told the BBC that its delivery drivers were independent contractors and not directly hired by Amazon.
They added that compensation was the responsibility of the delivery company.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson told The Independent: “We can confirm we are investigating following a report of an incident whereby a dog was injured by a vehicle outside an address in Otley on Sunday 21st September 2025.
“Local NPT Officers have been in regular contact with the owner of the dog and the investigation is ongoing.”
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