THE LOST POST - Mail left in relocated pillar box

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http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk ... 3602916.jp

A PILE of letters were left uncollected in a postbox because Scarborough postal workers didn't realise it had been moved.
The mix-up happened because they didn't know that the postbox along the seafront had been relocated across the road. It was originally outside the Tourist Information Centre in Sandside but had been moved – just opposite, to outside The Lancaster pub.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said the postbox was relocated last month and there was "a short period where the box wasn't cleared due to an error of notification that it had been replaced but for the last few weeks it has been emptied regularly".

The postbox was removed by council contractors during development works and the relocation was delayed due to utility checks. They apologised for any inconvenience caused. Phil Ralph, 55, who is a taxi driver for Station Taxis, used the box to post a vehicle registration document to a car dealer in Glasgow for a new taxi more than a week ago.

After it didn't arrived for a few days, he contacted the Scarborough delivery office to check it had been collected and was told collections were being made from the box.

Mr Ralph, of Quay Street, said: "I rang them again the next day w
hen it still hadn't arrived. 'This time when they checked – and then they said 'Oh there's been a problem andmail hadn't been collected from there'. They didn't realise there was a box there!" He added: "Certainly for four days there wasn't any mail collected and I suspect before then as well. "It's unbelievable they can put a post box somewhere and not realise it's there."

He sent off the document to transfer his registration to a new specialist taxi, which can carry wheelchairs and pushchairs but now can't take delivery of the vehicle until early next year because of the delay. Mandy Bazley, landlady of The Lancaster, said her daughter Toyah Robertson was also affected when she posted some rented DVDs back to Tesco and now faces paying a charge because they were delayed.

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Last Updated: 19 December 2007 8:29 AM