Royal Mail digs up postbox

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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BENFLEET residents were left baffled last week after a postbox disappeared.
Customers posted letters, outside Alf’s Newsagent on the High Road, on Tuesday morning only to walk past the same spot hours later and find the box had vanished.

Within hours, complaints had been made to local councillors, Castle Point Council and Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris.

A Royal Mail spokesperson revealed last week that the postbox had been taken away because it was technically on private land and the owner had ordered its removal.

A local business owner, who asked not to be named, said: “People were posting their letters on Tuesday morning, then walking back past and seeing that the box had disappeared. They were coming in all day asking where it had gone.”

Chris Findlay, 82, from King’s Road, went out to post some letters that Tuesday morning and found two Royal Mail workers digging up the postbox.

He said: “They told me they were under instructions to dig it up and that was that.

“After protesting I walked to the next one.

“There are other boxes in walking distance but that one was on people’s route to the station. So although it might not have been people’s nearest box, it was the biggest and the most convenient box. I used it pretty much every other day.”

Local resident Reginald Brockett, 90, from Sidwell Avenue, served for several years as the secretary of the Post Office Advisory Committee.

He said: “I was most disturbed on Tuesday morning to find that the postbox had been removed. Since I’m one of the people who used the bloody thing, I want to know why it was removed without notice.

“There is another box in St Mary’s, but the other one was cleared much more frequently. The box should not have been removed without notice.”

Royal Mail released the following statement: “The post box was moved from its original location on the High Road as it was on private land and we were asked to remove it by the property owner.

“We are looking into relocating this post box. In the meantime, there are several post boxes nearby that customers can use until a new site is found.”

[Lounge Lizard]

"BENFLEET residents .... Chris Findlay, 82, from King’s Road .... Local resident Reginald Brockett, 90, from Sidwell Avenue ...."
A few years and there won't be anyone left in Benfleet to post letters anyway.