Postal worker Dan Kindred says he’s still in disbelief after he was attacked on the job and had his Canada Post truck stolen in broad daylight Monday in Surrey, B.C.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Kindred, who has been on the job for nearly 13 years without that kind of trouble.

Kindred said he had stopped his red postal delivery van on a residential street to deliver a parcel when a man pulled him out of the truck, dropped him to the ground and took off with the vehicle.

Kindred grabbed hold of the truck’s side mirror and went for the ride of his life.

“I thought, ‘No, this is my truck, you're not going to take it.’ And he kept going and going, and I was hanging on and trying to open the door and yelling at him and he was yelling something at me. I think he was saying, ‘Let go.’”

Kindred admits he did everything he has been told not to do.

"Probably went a good city block long and he was going faster, and then he finally pulled out a can of pepper spray and that's when I let go."

Kindred broke his wrist and said he knows it could have been much worse.

"That's crossed my mind. The police asked if he had a gun."

Another letter carrier robbed

He's also worried about how dangerous the job might be getting for postal workers.

On Tuesday, a letter carrier working in the same area was threatened with pepper spray and robbed.

"It might have something to do with more traffic and more volume as far as mail and courier is concerned ramping up to the holiday season," said Cpl. Bert Paquet of the Surrey RCMP.

Kindred’s truck was eventually found. Mail was also recovered after it had been dumped in a different location. The parcel that Kindred was set to deliver when he was attacked got to the recipient on Tuesday, one day late.

Kindred says that when he goes back to work, he says he'll be looking over his shoulder a lot more than usual and will react differently if he's jumped again.

"Ah, I think I'll let 'em take it."

With files from the CBC's Belle Puri