Royal Mail refuses to deliver to Downfield Avenue in Hull after postman 'threatened'

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Royal Mail is refusing to deliver to a row of homes in one Hull street after a postman "was threatened".

Fifteen homes in Downfield Avenue will no longer receive their mail through the letter box after a resident is said to have "threatened and abused" a postal worker on their daily round.

Instead, shocked residents of the street off Beverley Road must now travel to the Malmo Road depot to collect their letters and parcels.

Owners of the homes affected were notified of the ban in a letter from Royal Mail, saying it was taking the "exceptional" step of stopping their post because of the serious nature of the threats, thought to have been made in the past few days.

It says: "You may already be aware that a Royal Mail post person was involved in an incident recently and was threatened with physical violence.

Royal Mail refuses to deliver to Downfield Avenue in Hull after postman 'threatened'

Royal Mail is refusing to deliver to a row of homes in one Hull street after a postman "was threatened".

Fifteen homes in Downfield Avenue will no longer receive their mail through the letter box after a resident is said to have "threatened and abused" a postal worker on their daily round.

Instead, shocked residents of the street off Beverley Road must now travel to the Malmo Road depot to collect their letters and parcels.

Owners of the homes affected were notified of the ban in a letter from Royal Mail, saying it was taking the "exceptional" step of stopping their post because of the serious nature of the threats, thought to have been made in the past few days.

It says: "You may already be aware that a Royal Mail post person was involved in an incident recently and was threatened with physical violence.

"As a result, the level of risk associated with delivering to your property is unacceptably high due to the threat of further customers' abuse and this incident has been reported to the police."

It goes on to say how the Royal Mail is carrying out its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the "incident" and is working the police to ensure the safety of its employees.

The letter ends saying: "However, I'm very sorry to advise that, until such time as we can guarantee this, we are unable to access your property and deliver mail safely.

"Due to the serious nature of the incident, deliveries to your address will therefore be suspended with immediate effect."

Brian Bishoprick, 52, is one of the residents who has been affected. He said residents had been told they will have to collect their post from the Malmo Road depot for the indefinite future.

"We knew absolutely nowt about this, and neither did my neighbour next door," he said. "The first we heard of it was when the letter came through the door," he said.

"I went into Royal Mail to sort this out because I didn't understand what was going on. They said they knew what had happened and the person who had done it, and told us the police were investigating.

"I asked why we were being punished and our post being withheld if they knew who has done it. We have done nothing wrong and had no threats coming from ours or the majority of other people's house."

He said it was terrible the postman had been targeted by somebody along the street, but questioned the decision to ban the post from the other properties.

"I have every sympathy that one of the Royal Mail staff has been threatened with physical violence," he said.

"But if they know who has done it why are we being punished? Surely it should just be that one person. It is a lot of houses which have been affected for people that have done absolutely nothing.

"I didn't know about this until the letter arrived through the door, and I imagine a lot of other people would not have done either. And now, until this is sorted we will have to go out to receive our mail. Why should we have to do that?"

The Mail have contacted Royal Mail for a comment.

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I wonder how many would rush out of their houses to stop an assault on a postman/woman.

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Royal Mail ban on Downfield Avenue, Hull, lifted after resident made telephone threats

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A Royal Mail ban on delivering post to a row of houses on a north Hull street following threats to a postman has been lifted.

Postmen stopped hand-delivering letters to 15 homes in Downfield Avenue, off Beverley Road, after a resident called the Royal Mail and threatened to physically harm their local postman on Tuesday morning.

The Mail understands the resident made the call after believing water was being put through their letterbox by the postal worker.

Following the threats, Royal Mail banned its postmen from delivering any mail to 15 houses in the street and informed police of the threats.

Shocked residents were also told they had to collect their post from a local depot instead, until the ban was lifted on Wednesday morning to all houses. The person who allegedly made the threats is still not receiving their mail.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, we had to suspend deliveries to a number of addresses in the Downfield Avenue area of Hull on Tuesday after we received threats of violence from a resident towards the local postman.

"The safety and welfare of our staff is paramount and all our people should be able to carry out the roles without any threat.

"Deliveries to addresses resumed on Wednesday, although the suspension of delivery to the resident who made the threat will continue until police have completed their enquiries and we believe it is safe to recommence deliveries.

"We sincerely apologise to other customers for the inconvenience caused but we take any threat against any of our postmen and women very seriously."

A letter originally delivered from the Royal Mail to the affected houses said properties numbered from 27 to 57 would not have their post. Residents said they were still in a state of shock over what happened.

Brian Bishoprick said: "Apparently there was someone in the estate on our side that had rang up and threatened the postal staff because he thought water was being put through his door by the postman.

"I still don't understand it, because I know most of the people along the street and I can't think of anyone who would do that. I spoke to the postman and he said he had been told they were allowed to deliver to us again now though.

"I can't blame the postman at all for not delivering us to start with, they do a good job and I have every sympathy for whoever was threatened."

Lynne Coney, who also lives along the street, said nobody knew who the person behind the threats could have been.

"Nobody knows what happened. The original letter said we would know what had happened, but nobody had a clue," she said.

A Humberside Police spokeswoman said: "Police are investigating a report of harassment in the Beverley High Road area of Hull after a company made a report of a threat towards a member of their staff. Enquiries are ongoing at this time."

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The Mail understands the resident made the call after believing water was being put through their letterbox by the postal worker.

The forecast for Hull on Tuesday was guess what - rain

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