Families face 42-mile trip just to pick up their post
Royal Mail axes deliveries to homes for ‘health and safety’
For years, householders in the remote hamlet have listened for the reassuring thump of the mail dropping through their letter boxes.
one of their few links to the wider world, the service has been a lifeline for Altnabreac, more than 100 miles north of inverness.
But now residents in the Caithness settlement are being forced to make a 42-mile round trip to pick up their post.
Last Friday, royal mail halted deliveries to homes in the KW12 6Ur postcode area, a private road, citing safety concerns.
those in the four affected homes now have no choice but to drive an hour and ten minutes each way to the post office at Halkirk.
royal mail says it is unsafe for its staff to make deliveries on a bumpy track off the main road. it also says it takes posties an extra hour to reach the homes and that they are in danger because there is no mobile phone signal.
Deliveries were previously withdrawn in 2014 but had been reinstated on appeal. the latest deci- sion has left residents incensed. they have pledged to appeal again, insisting that royal mail has a duty to deliver to every address on the UK mainland.
Local Darren Bruce, 32, said: ‘royal mail is obliged to deliver to all UK properties six days a week. i think it is disgusting it has picked on us again.
‘royal mail previously stated they had issues with the road and i have plunged thousands of pounds into repairs. A royal mail health and safety officer from Edinburgh surveyed the road and told me there were no issues.
‘they say they are also cancelling our service due to the lack of a phone signal, but there is a 4G mast which serves the area.
‘they also have claimed that, as it is a 60 minute-plus round trip to us, that they won’t deliver. Well, we now face a 42-mile round journey to Halkirk post office if we want to pick up our post.
‘this move will affect around 15 people who are living at these
‘Health and safety had no issues’
properties. We are now looking into the appeal process, which will take more than three months, but in the meantime it will have a major effect on everyone.’
A royal mail spokesman yesterday claimed the decision had been made on safety grounds, saying: ‘royal mail has suspended deliveries to four addresses at KW12 at Halkirk and we are sorry for the inconvenience this causes customers.
‘this step has been taken after a detailed assessment, as we believe there is a risk of safety to our postmen and women delivering on private tracks off the public highway. our people are spending an hour round trip to deliver the mail.
‘there is also no mobile phone signal to call for help if there is an issue and the condition of the track is poor.’
she added: ‘suspension of delivery is not something we do lightly, but we need to ensure that all our people are working in a safe environment.
‘ofcom’s own regulations state that postmen and women should not spend more than 15 minutes in a single trip on private roads to deliver mail.
‘royal mail wants to work with the customers to find a safe and sensible solution to this suspension. For the time being they can collect their mail either from another address in the same postcode which is accessible or from Halkirk delivery office. to date, we have not received any appeal from customers.’
royal mail delivers to a number of remote locations in scotland.
on the small island of Kerrera, off oban in Argyll, an offroad vehicle services 19 addresses on a 15-mile route.