Royal Mail fails to deliver new postbox

[arnold cheshire]

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FAMILIES in one of Stoke-on-Trent's smallest villages are demanding answers from Royal Mail after a two-year wait for their postbox to be returned.

Residents in Ridgeway are furious after their 70-year-old postbox was seized under cover of darkness in early 2010.

The move sparked a campaign to have the postbox reinstated, which included presenting a 100-name petition to Royal Mail's former chief executive Adam Crozier.

They appeared to have won their fight when Royal Mail promised to install a new postbox. But now residents have called on their MP Joan Walley for help as the new postbox still hasn't materialised.

It means villagers are having to make a mile-long journey to post their letters in nearby Norton.

Mother-of-three Dawn Clewes is leading calls for an explanation.

The 54-year-old said: "We've had no written notification about what's going to happen – or what's not going to happen, most probably. We need a postbox in the village for all the reasons we spelled out in our original campaign.

"The closest postbox is about a mile away and that's no good for elderly residents. It's also a country road that's often used by lorries."

Dawn said the only information she had received was from informal conversations with workmen.

She added: "All I've been told is they were looking for somewhere else to put the postbox because of electric cables. But they said they couldn't find anywhere. I think that's a pretty lame excuse."

When the row initially broke out, Royal Mail said there were concerns about the security of letters after a hole had developed in the box. They also claimed the number of letters being posted was low, and said there were concerns about the safety of the location. The old postbox was at the junction of Bemersley Road and Tongue Lane.

Grandmother-of-two Jean Jarvis, aged 80, a retired nursery nurse, pictured, said: "There are about 50 houses here with no postbox. You see some villages with only 12 houses and they have a postbox and a phone box. We just think it's excuse after excuse."

Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley has now written to Royal Mail.

The Labour backbencher said: "I've heard all sorts of excuses from electric cables to problems with access. But they did not consult people when they removed it, and that's the most worrying thing.

"Why don't they just sort this out and take some good credit?"

Royal Mail today confirmed there had been problems with the new location for the postbox.

A spokesman said: "The installation of postboxes involves a detailed study which is aimed at ensuring all postboxes comply with health and safety legislation.

"We must assess the proposed location against a number of factors. This includes ensuring safe access, prevalence of underground cables, the proximity of other postboxes and density of population.

"We had hoped to replace the box at a site adjacent to the previous position.

"This was not possible unfortunately due to underground cabling.

"We are committed to exploring how we can replace this postbox."