Deliveries disrupted in Leicestershire as posties tread care

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Deliveries disrupted in Leicestershire as posties tread carefully

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Postal deliveries have been severely disrupted in Leicestershire during the cold snap as postmen were told they could not walk on ice and snow due to health and safety.

Royal Mail managers in parts of the county and city told staff it was not safe to go out because the treacherous and slippy conditions might lead to injury.

Royal Mail has apologised for the delays in delivery but said the safety of workers had to be taken into consideration.

The decision to suspend rounds angered many customers who said they were left waiting for days to receive important post such as cheques and bills, or that they had to collect items from distribution centres themselves.


Cliff Johnson, 60, of Woodhouse, near Loughborough, received just one delivery of post to his house last week.

He said: "It's an absolute joke. I admit the snow and ice has been bad but most people have been able to cope.

"Deliveries are still getting through to shops, children are still getting to school but the posties are being told they can't get round.

"It's a bit soft. When I called Royal Mail they said it was too dangerous for their guys to go out.

"When I was a young lad the postman would be out in his hobnail boots in far worse conditions than this."

Ruth Faulkes, of Scraptoft, said she went to the post office on Monday to ask why she had not had a delivery since Wednesday.

She said: "I was told it was because of health and safety.

"Our postmen have reported for work every morning and have sorted the post but have not been allowed to deliver it because they might slip and injure themselves in the icy conditions. I find this unacceptable.

"Other workers have coped with the conditions but the postmen are not allowed to on grounds of health and safety."

Royal Mail said it was unable to say how many homes and businesses had been affected by late deliveries because of the weather but said at some point deliveries from each of its 52 delivery offices in Leicestershire had been affected.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman yesterday said: "We apologise to those customers who have experienced delays to their deliveries as a result of the severe weather.

"We are continuing to deliver to the vast majority of addresses but, in some cases, it is not possible to do so because of the weather.

"We are now able to deliver to the vast majority of addresses in Leicestershire.

"We are still having difficulty reaching a small number of rural addresses in the east of the county but we are continuing to attempt deliveries in all areas.

"While roads may be clear, some pavements and driveways are still treacherous and our postmen and women are carrying pouches containing up to 16kg of mail, with the average delivery round having six to eight pouches to deliver.

"We face a balance of keeping our delivery staff safe, while continuing to make as many deliveries as possible."

She said the decision to suspend deliveries was down to managers in each of the 52 offices after they had inspected conditions.

A Leicester postman, who did not want to be named, said: "When it gets really bad Royal Mail tell us we're not allowed out, so we haven't made any deliveries since Friday because it's been too slippy.

"We've started again now, because it's thawing, but it means we'll have double deliveries for the next few days."