Hopeless postman dumped 700 letters

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Hope ... 3926548.jp

A HOPELESS postman who dumped bags of mail he should have been delivering has been spared jail.
Christopher Smith, 21, was collared when a member of the public found
abandoned postal packets hidden in bushes in Thompson Road, Sunderland.

Smith was arrested, and claimed he had abandoned the bags when he was
threatened by a gang of youths during his round.

He said the ordeal left him afraid to go back to certain streets.

But prosecutor Paul Caulfield told Newcastle Crown Court: "This is a case of a young lad who has just started and couldn't do the job."

The court heard how further investigations had revealed more abandoned
postal packets hidden nearby.

Smith, of Bayswater Road, Sunderland, admitted interfering with the mail by failing to deliver a total of 732 items, and resigned from his job
.

He has since found work as a steward at Sunderland Football Club and also works as a pub doorman.

Prosecutors accept he had not stolen anything from any of the bags.

Judge Beatrice Bolton said the role of a postman in society is "very
important", and the public need to feel confident their mail will be delivered.

She said: "The prosecution case is you were just not up to the job
and, as a result, hid the items.

"This is an unusual case, and it is quite clear there was no financial gain to you, you just got out of delivering mail.

"You made up a story that could not have been true, that you were frightened of a gang of young men, and that is why you did not deliver
the mail."

Judge Bolton sentenced Smith to a 12-month community order with
supervision, and ordered him to pay £1,472 costs.

Defence barrister Barry Robson said: "He simply wasn't up to the job."

[andy2007]

If he couldn't handle the workload, then why didn't he ask for help, instead of dumping the Mail?
There are other Duties in RM, other than just Deliveries. He could have asked for a transfer, if there wasn't any help available!

It's the tiny minority like him that damages everyone's reputation. This is just the kind of News that our enemies will try to use against us!

They should have "thrown the book at him"!

[General Mannerheim]

I like the bit:He was scared of a few youths and now he`s a steward at Sunderland and a DOORMAN and they let him off FFS!!

Maybe he will resurface as a DOM somewhere.