Runaway Royal Mail van destroys homeowner's fences

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Two fences were crushed under the wheels of a runaway Royal Mail van in Weymouth.

No-one was hurt in the incident at Melstock Avenue, Preston.

Royal Mail said it is investigating the circumstances.

It is understood the postman parked on a slight slope while on his rounds on Saturday morning. For a reason yet to be established, the van appears to have moved forward a short distance unoccupied.

It levelled one fence before grazing a car in a driveway and coming to a rest on top of a portion of a second fence.


Kenneth Thirkettle, who owns the house where the van stopped and whose car and fence was damaged, said he had not heard the van come onto his property.

"The first we knew of it was when the postman rang the doorbell," he recounted.

The incident is not the first mishap the area has suffered at the hands of passing motor vehicles; a few months previously, a neighbour woke up to find his garden wall had been 'knocked flat', apparently by a car in the night.

"There was no note or anything," the neighbour said. "There's something about this road."

Mr Thirkettle meanwhile added that that it was unlucky his new Toyota Prius had been the car grazed in the incident, rather than an older vehicle he keeps parked on the road.

Recovery was arranged for the Royal Mail van.

Dorset Police said it was not involved in the incident.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We can confirm there was an accident involving a Royal Mail van on Melstock Avenue on Saturday. Fortunately no-one was injured.

"An investigation is underway to find out what happened.”