RM restore service to residents in Hovefields, Wickford

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail restore service to residents in Hovefields, Wickford

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9484922 ... r_7_years/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OVERJOYED residents are celebrating after Royal Mail finally resumed daily deliveries to their homes after seven years.

Royal Mail suspended deliveries to Hovefields, Wickford, in May, 2005, after a postman was shot near the travellers’ site, before it was cleared.

Seven years later, Royal Mail has told the residents it will reinstate deliveries.

The move has left residents overjoyed they will no longer have to make a six-mile round trip to get their post.

It has taken years of wrangling by residents and MPs who today finally claimed a victory. Delighted Jill Walsh, 54, of Hovefields Avenue, said: “It was meant to be reinstated before Christmas.

“We had one delivery, then a week later there was another and now it is back full time and normal.

“They have been in all sorts of negotiations with our MP and then they did a risk assessment and eventually said, we could have our post back.

“It’s great because it saves us a fortune in petrol.”

Mark Francois, Tory MP for Wickford and Rayleigh, expressed his delight common sense prevailed.

He added: “It used to be said years ago the mail must get through, but for far too long this did not apply to my constituents.

“I can well understand their frustration, but hopefully all’s well that ends well.

“From now on the mail will be safely delivered so the people in Hovefields can enjoy the same postal service as everbody else.”

Mail deliveries to Hovefields were suspended in May 2005 when a postman was shot with an airgun at the illegal traveller site, in Hovefields Drive.

Since then nearby residents have had to travel to the sorting office in Wickford town centre to pick up their post.

For years Billericay MP John Baron, and more recently Mr Francois, lobbied Royal Mail, but it insisted risk assessments found it would be unsafe for its staff.

However, Mr Francois argued since the illegal site was cleared by Basildon Council in September 2010, the risk to postal staff had been removed.

Royal Mail was unavailable to comment.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Older chapter of same story from Aug 2007 http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... lds#p32428" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PhilthyPhil]

Older chapter of same story from Aug 2007 http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... lds#p32428" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Whatever happened to L Tommo? I haven't seen him post for ages.


OUT


;)

[POSTMAN]

Don't let the fact you were taken away and locked up get you down.

[NWpostie]

I absolutely hate Pikeys, they are mostly just thieving wasters, with no morals except their own, they take and camp everywhere leaving it a mess, they are NOT Gypsys in any shape or form, they are people who just want to travel in caravans and expect us to bend over backward to cater for their whims and anybody 's land is fair game.

Romanies were nothing like this, they have mostly settled down, even when they did travel hey kept the camps site clean and did some tinkering, metal work and general labouring, they are now disappearing.

Time to make trespassing a criminal offence.

[TeeferTiger]

I had neighbours who used to own some land who had illegal "visitors" on it who refused to leave so one night they took a shot gun and went there, fired a few shots into the air and claimed they were looking for a Mick McCarthy and that they knew he was there. If they didn't hand him over, they'd come back the next night with back up and burn the caravan site down. The site was gone the next morning...