Postman suffers heart attack digging van out of snow

[pinstripe]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... chaos.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

POSTMAN EDIT:Seems the story is mixed in with many others.


A postman collapsed and died on his round as he battled to free his Royal Mail van after the vehicle became stuck in a deep snowdrift, it emerged today.

John Bircham, of Dulverton, Somerset, suffered a heart attack as he fought through the snow and icy conditions on Saturday, a Royal Mail source said.

Exmoor was one of the worst hit areas by the snow and ice at the weekend - and drift caused huge problems, completely blocking main roads. Royal Mail manager Ian Frankum, his boss, said Mr Bircham had been a postman for 24 years and worked out of the Dulverton delivery office on Exmoor.

Mr Frankum said: ‘It is with great sadness that colleagues at the Dulverton delivery office learned of the death of postman John Bircham at the weekend. He was a valued member of staff. He will be sorely missed by his colleagues and our deepest sympathies go out to his family at this sad time.’

Chris Nelder, a Dulverton town councillor, said: ‘This has come as quite a shock and news of Mr Bircham’s death has obviously spread very quickly through the area where he was very well known. He was delivering out towards East Anstey.

'As I understand it was stuck in a snowdrift and was unable to get any traction on the tyres of his van. A farmer who was out in his tractor came to his aid and had offered to tow him out. But despite his best efforts, and the first responder locally and the air ambulance, Mr Bircham couldn’t be revived.

'He was Dulverton born and bred and had had a delivery round in and around the town for 25 years so he knew an awful lot of people and they knew him even if only by sight travelling around the lanes.’

John Atkins, secretary of the amateur Dulverton Town Football Club, confirmed Mr Bircham was a former player and committee man who was a tireless fundraiser. He added: ‘John was very well liked and will be sorely missed. It has been a great shock to hear of his death.’

A local Post Office source said: ‘I think the road was blocked by a fallen tree and Mr Bircham was trying to get round it when he got stuck in a drift. He was trying to clear the snow from under his back wheels to reverse out and go back down the lane. As usual he was doing his utmost to make sure the post got through.’

Last night, Mr Bircham’s widow, Wendy, was being comforted by the couple’s two sons. She was said to be too upset to talk.’


Brian Edworthy, Mr Bircham’s brother-in-law, said: ‘She would like to be left alone at this difficult time.’

Another family source added: ‘At the moment it is still not clear why John died. We are awaiting the results of a post mortem and for the body to be released. Until then we won’t know what the precise cause of death was.


'We are assuming it was probably some sort of heart attack but we are not sure and we really don’t know if it was due to the circumstances he found himself in with his van.


'John was stuck in the snow and had been digging around but the farmer who went to his aid didn’t report him being red faced and sweating or puffing and panting or anything like that.

‘He offered to pull John out after he had only been digging for a short while but before he could climb back into the driver’s seat to be towed out he just slid down the wing of the car and onto the ground.


'The farmer attempted to resuscitate him together with another farm worker who came out but when the worker checked they could not seem to get any pulse. When the paramedics arrived it was the same. It was too late.’

[savo]

Very,very sad news, just seen report on local news.

RIP.

[SP115]

RIP

[eian687]

very sad RIP

[oldrangersW12]

R.I.P John Bircham

[feduppostie]

RIP

[cyclemech1]

Sincere condolances.

[ajmrmb]

RIP GOD BLESS

[Broxi51]

RIP. Condolences to his family & friends

[maisymoo04]

R I P John

[doorstepped]

R.I.P :(

[postmankev]

Rip

[DB1100]

Thoughts are with his family and friends.

[TeeferTiger]

So sad, RIP xxx

[POSTMAN]

1ST Post has been updated as it seems the news item has since it was last posted.