Booze is a publess village in the Yorkshire Dales which is soon also to become postless. The Royal Mail has written to the eleven local residents telling them that their local road, a narrow lane and the only connection with the outside world, is too dangerous for their vans and mail will no longer be delivered.
If this happens, the alternative will be a 45 minute drive to the sorting office in Richmond to pick up their mail.
Residents received a letter from the delivery office manager saying ‘The road is extremely narrow, and if you have to reverse down, this is potentially an accident waiting to happen.’ Might we suggest the delivery office upgrade their vans to ones which include forward gears.
Locals pointed out that there has never been an accident on the hill, but it didn’t help. Then came the suggestion that the mail could be delivered the old-fashioned way, on foot.
Apparently it can’t, according to the delivery office. And why not? Simple, the postman has got a bad back! The locals were offered free-standing post boxes at the end of the road. A nice long walk for the elderly!
The local residents suspect that the main reason for the situation is a cost cutting exercise. The Royal Mail responded by saying ‘A health and safety assessment was undertaken and the report confirmed that access to a number of premises is a risk to our staff and, as a result, deliveries were suspended.’
So that’s it, the loonies from H & S have been let out unsupervised again.
Continuing on a postal theme. It has become apparent that government officials, and up to a high level, are not particularly good (to say the least) when it comes to geography, either at a regional or country level. We had the recent case of the Minister of State for Transport and Minister for Yorkshire and The Humber, Rosie Winterton, confirming that the Council for the Isles of Scilly is responsible for the islands of Penwith and Kerrier.
Another village in that neck of the woods is having its local Post Office closed. The Post Office say that it is only 1.1 miles to the next office, so shouldn’t cause any inconvenience.
It is, apparently, only 1.1 miles to the next office. If you are a crow. Someone has obviously just stuck their ruler on a map and measured a direct line. For humans, the 1.1 mile route would mean negotiating a stream, climbing up a horrendously steep field, traversing a farm, scampering across a busy road and wandering through a large estate. Where do they get ’em?