"Liberating" a Royal Mail Cart

[postfan121]

Hi Posties,

Got an irregular question for you.

A delivery trolley has been chained to "my" property for the best part of a year. I say my, as it is a shared partition between me and my neighbour and neither of us know legally who owns it. During this time the trolley has turned pink through the sun, and has become an ad hoc bin for local teenagers to dispose of beer cans and takeaway wrappers. On occasions it seems to have found its way onto my land, on other times my neighbors. We have both mentioned it to various Royal Mail staff, both accosting a passing postie, and at the sorting office when picking up missed deliveries. Any postie doing their round would see it on a weekly basis. I am sure Royal Mail vans must occasionally pass, so they would see it too. It cannot be not known about. I have no idea why it was just left there. There must be some reason ?

Given that it seems to have been abandoned, and occasionally makes its way onto my land, I have often considered getting a hacksaw and cutting the lock.

I cannot deny that I have an ulterior motive. I fish and I have often thought it would be a great little vehicle to navigate towpaths loaded with kit and tackle. If the Royal Mail don't want it, I would be happy to give it a new lease of life and take loving care of it.

If I was to cut the lock, wheel it into my garage and give it a bit of TLC and a paint job (definitely not red), would I be breaking any sort of laws.

If I did do this, I note there are two boxes on the cart, both of which are locked. Would I be able to open them without irrepairably damaging the cart ? Are they pickable ? If I did break them open, would I be able to replace them with new locks. I dream of night fishing, with all my stuff locked in "my" lovely trolley while I take a nap, or head for a swift one.
?
And finally, were I to do this, would I run the risk of being accosted by a policeman who notices the original use of the trolley and accuses me of theft

Any thoughts.

Thanks !

[bogstandard]

you should get in touch with RM by phone probably as asking a passing posite or one in the callers office has clearly had no benefit.

I would strongly advise against taking anything you know isn't yours

[baldrick]

I think you already know that would be theft.
We have one chained to a street sign post at the top of my road. Like yours it seems to be used for depositing empty lager cans and litter on. I assume it was originally left there, about 3 years ago, for mail to be left to be picked up by the local postie, which he/she couldn't carry to the round.
I have never seen the postie pick up mail from it though.

[The_Wax_Man]

If it is indeed, chained on your property, i.e all 4 wheels within your house deed structure, then a simple email to RM explaining the fact how long it has been there and advise that it will from such and such a date start to incur a storage fee of 'xx' amount on a per day basis.

Three outcomes.

1.RM will send out someone with immediate effect to remove it.

2. You could potentially claim storage fees if proven by a solicitor that you notified the legal owner of the fact there was to be charge and potentially not only could you then afford a better trolley for the fishing tackle but possibly even an electric motorised one. - Bonus

3.You could negate the storage fees by application of legal property transfer from RM on such storage fees. - Means you'll have to get the paint out, but hey ho, freebie.

Good luck

[wannabeek]

I personally don't care much about the legal wranglings mentioned here. That's not how we do things out in the wilds.

If someone chains an item to my property without asking and doesn't reclaim it promptly then I don't expect them to be upset if it disappears.

Personally, I've got to say that if I were in your situation, that cart would probably have been long since removed, repimped beyond identification, and well put to use for my own purposes. Fishing or whatnot.

[postfan121]

Chaps,

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I shall visit the local sorting office and have a strong word.

Re, being it a sort of drop point, I don't think that is possible, as I notice the same beer cans and pizza boxes balanced on top remain completely undisturbed.

Great suggestion about the legal route, and the wild west route !

I think I will pop around and not just "mention', I will interrogate this time !

Thanks for all the answers ....