Royal Mail scraps more deliveries to rural homes (From The Northern Echo)

Royal Mail scraps more deliveries to rural homes

10:13am Wednesday 6th August 2008 in News By Graeme Hetherington

Royal Mail scraps more deliveries to rural homes

ROYAL Mail has been criticised for scrapping deliveries to rural homes in the region because of concerns over access via dirt tracks.

The decision comes days after people living in the North Yorkshire village of Booze were told that access to their homes was dangerously steep for the company’s staff to negotiate.

Now east Cleveland villagers with private access roads have been told they will have to either pick up their own mail or build a postbox at the entrance to their properties.

Royal Mail said the move had been taken because of “difficulty of access concerns”.

Villagers only found out about the decision when they received a letter in their mail.

Josie Etches, who lives in Hummersea, near Loftus, has managed to repair the dirt track access to her property, but she is determined that all those affected will get the service they require.

Speaking on behalf of homeowners in east Cleveland, the 72-year-old said: “We have been lucky enough to be in a position to repair our dirt track, but not everyone who has been singled out is in that position.

“Some of the people don’t own the access road so they can’t repair it even if they want to.

“I am not just doing this for myself, I am doing it for all the other people who have been affected by this decision.

I can’t believe how the Royal Mail can treat people like this.”

The campaign has already won the support of local MP Ashok Kumar and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

Councillor Mary Lanigan, the cabinet member for highways, transportation and planning, expressed amazement at the announcement.

She said: “I am absolutely amazed at the Royal Mail. The roads are no different to what they have always been.

“I want to investigate this and cannot see how the Royal Mail has the power to just stop services without consultation.”

Letters to people living in east Cleveland say postal services will be suspended from next Wednesday.

It suggested that people affected should either install postboxes at the entrance to their properties, some of which are up to three-quarters of a mile away from the front door, or collect their mail from Skelton Delivery Office.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Because of concerns raised by our postmen and women, a health and safety assessment was carried out and it concluded there was a risk to our people and vehicles delivering to a small number of homes in the Skelton- in-Cleveland delivery area.

“We notified customers of the issues and are in discussions with them to find a solution to improve access to their properties or make alternative arrangements for delivery their post.”

Dr Kumar has called on Royal Mail’s corporate head Adam Crozier to rethink the decision.