My dog was bitten by another dog

This afternoon my DD (age 20) was walking our Beagle, on a lead, at a local park (grassy area). Another dog ran out from trees and growled and bit our dog on her leg. The owners of the other dog (a couple) came over and got control of the dog, they apologised and waited with DD until she rang me to ask me to come pick them up to take Numi to the vet. They then began to leave. My DD asked them for their name and phone number so that she could let them know how much the bill was.
They gave an incorrect number.
Numi needed x-rays as vet was concerned there could be a fracture and there was too much swelling for him to be able to tell-- luckily there wasn't.
The total vet bill (out of hour emergency fees) came to £160
So couple questions, are the other owners legally responsible? Should we be notifying the police?
Numi is still out of it tonight, the vet said she would be, but will hopefully be back to normal after about a week of rest.

I'm so sorry to hear this happened.

I don't know about the legal issues here, but my parents' dog in MD is dog-aggressive and has bitten dogs in the past. We've always paid their vet bills, mainly because it's the right thing to do.

I hope Numi has a speedy recovery!

Oh no! Poor Numi! I have no advice to give, I just wanted to say that I hope Numi gets better soon.  -that's for all of you, esp Numi!

Oh that sucks so much
It may be good to call the police- since they gave you an incorrect number

Its differant in each part of the country, some have lead laws, some dont. (since it sounds like the other dog wasnt on a lead). You need to call your local council and see what they say. They would have all the information you need. I dont think the police would be able to do anything about it,but theres a department at the council that deals with that type of situations.

I had a similiar situation, when I was walking our doggies, a big dog came out of nowhere and jumped on our 13 yr old greyhound,pinning her down and going for her (luckily the other dog had a muzzle on), but unfortantley in this area,theres no lead law and there was nothing we could do about it
 
Hope your doggie feels better.

Awww. 

Best wishes for your Numi!!

I'm so sorry to hear that, and I wish your dog a speedy recovery.  I often chat with other dog owners I bump into, and word spreads quick if there's a dog to "be aware of" that frequents the area, due to having an agressive reputation off lead.  I don't know what you can do legally, but sometimes word of mouth can be very helpful.

Report the incident to the dog warden. Unfortunately there is very little you can do, especially as they haven't bothered to be decent enough to take care of the matter.

The dog laws in the UK at the moment aren't very good. They basically say that the owner has to be aware that the dog is vicious before they can be legally responsible. Essentially the dog has to have bitten someone/thing before and that has to be documented before they are considered legally responsible. Most people don't report dog bites until they're really bad, so most dog owners get away with it. Report it to the dog warden, give as much information as you can and hopefully they can track down the dog.

I just want to point out that this is how the law was when I went on maternity, I know that people are lobbying to change the animals act, so it may have changed since.

I hope your dog recovers swiftly.

Oh HG i'm so sorry about your dog. That's awful! I hope that Numi recovers quickly. Irresponsible dog owners just make me so mad. 

Did you report it to the police HG? Did anything come of it?

Thats such a shame. Bad dog owners really do upset me. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Poor Numi!  I hope your puppy is okay soon.  Sorry, I have no advice but it sounds like there are some good suggestions.

This has come up on my village's (in Cambs) forum quite often, and all the locals (not lawyers btw) generally agree that there isn't a whole lot that can be done. Advice boils down basically to reporting it to all agencies, police, etc., to start a paper trail. If you can find out who they are you can always contact and see if they will own up to it. Perhaps the wrong number thing was just a mix up in communications (well there's hope)...