The management know bags are getting left in dodgy places,

[billyb8]

Carry on Royal Mail

23 January 2008
POSTAL workers blame managers and council staff for forcing them to ditch bags of mail, writes Jules Cooper.

Following an exclusive report in the Times (January 3) Royal Mail employees contacted the Times news team claiming it is the bosses who instruct them to dump unsecured post so colleagues can collect them hours later.

They claim Bromley council has refused them permission to construct secure post drop boxes in the borough.

A Bromley postman, who did not wish to be named, said: "The reason bags are being left out unattended is that there are no secure boxes in our area.

"The management know bags are getting left in dodgy places, but then all of a sudden when something is exposed they come down on people."

Royal Mail has made two unsuccessful planning applications for secure boxes in the Chislehurst area in the last five years.

A spokesman for Bromley council said there were no specific objections to the secure boxes, but that in a conservation area applications are tightly scrutinised.

Peter Dawson of Bromley's Communication Workers' Union, said Royal Mail does not try hard enough to provide adequate facilities for its postmen.

He said: "None of these unsafe drops are actually there because postal workers chose these places.

"The management are being lazy and have been turning a blind eye for probably two years now. Royal Mail is in a massive slash and burn drive, and in order to do that they are cutting corners."

A Royal Mail spokesperson would not confirm or deny that managers in Bromley had been telling workers to leave mail unsafely.

A spokesperson said: "We would not discuss details of bags drops in order to protect the security of the mail."

jules.cooper@archant.co.uk

Long Link Shrunk

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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