Coronavirus

Update – 24/3/20

We know that even in these difficult times we offer an important service and that you may still need our help.

We are still open for business from 9 am to 5 pm and remain ready to assist you. We have, however, had to take steps to protect your safety and that of our staff.

Appointments will take place by telephone (or by arrangement Skype, Facetime, etc.) in all but exceptional circumstances.

Please call us on 0191 2636200 or contact us by email to make an appointment.

Email addresses can be found on our website at www.pauldodds.co.uk/contact/

Original Post – With the continued spread of coronavirus, keeping our employees, clients and other visitors safe is our top priority.

With the advice of the UK government in mind if you are planning to visit Paul Dodds Law and in the last 14 days and you have:

• returned from overseas
• been in close contact with people who have recently returned from overseas
• been in close contact with anyone who has, or is suspected to have, coronavirus
• have yourself any reason to think that you may have coronavirus (this might include a new continuous cough, difficulty in breathing or a high temperature)

then please do not come into our office unless absolutely necessary.

As an alternative to visiting the office we are able to offer appointments by telephone, Skype, WhatsApp and Facetime.  Please let us know if you would like an appointment using one of these methods so that we can make the appropriate arrangements.

If you do visit our office we would ask you to be mindful of and to respect the steps that we have taken to protect your safety and that of our staff. 

The coronavirus is most likely to be spread when there is close contact (within 2 metres or less) with an infected person.  We have set up a 2 metre perimeter around our reception desk designated by an orange line on the floor and we would ask you not to cross that line unless specifically asked to do so by our receptionist. 

As a firm we have a reputation for being welcoming and friendly towards clients and visitors and that might often involve shaking hands. In order to assist in preventing the spread of coronavirus we may, however, ask you to avoid any physical contact with our employees and to keep a reasonable distance from our employees.  We do not intend to cause any offence by doing this and hope that you will understand that we have taken this step in order to keep you and our staff safe during the coronavirus epidemic

If you have documents to drop off or collect then a specific area in reception has been set aside to allow you to do that.  Our receptionist will assist you in identifying this area.  We will ask you to place the documents in that area before stepping back so that the documents can be retrieved by our receptionist.

The situation will be kept under review by the firm as the outbreak progresses and our guidance, policies and procedures will be amended in line with the government’s advice or as the firm sees fit.