The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Residents in a Holbeach street are being forced to collect their mail from the post office because of a ‘menace’ dog intimidating the postal staff.
A letter from the Royal Mail has told those living in Greenfields, from numbers 1-29 says the doorstep delivery service is suspended.
“You may already be aware that a Royal Mail postperson was recently chased and menaced by a dog while delivering near your property,” the letter says.
“As a result, a health and safety risk assessment was undertaken and confirmed that the level of risk associated with delivering to your property is unacceptably high due to the threat of further dog attacks,” adds the letter.
But residents claim they are being unfairly denied the door-to-door delivery when they knew nothing about the issue with a dog.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “The first we knew about it was getting the letter through the door.
“Neither me nor my neighbours have heard of any issues with a dog.
“We’ve tried to contact Royal Mail but the number on the letter goes to somewhere in Plymouth and all they will say is that they’re investigating the incident.
“A lot of the street are quite elderly and it’s not ideal going to fetch our mail.
“We’ve joked they should give the post to Amazon as their delivery drivers don’t seem to have a problem delivering down our road.”
The letter to residents said the Royal Mail it was working with the dog owner, dog warden and police to ensure the dog is restrained.
“Until such time as we can guarantee this, we are unable to access your property and deliver mail safely.”
Residents were advised to collect their mail from Spalding Sorting Office in Pinchbeck though Royal Mail have said that an arrangement has now been made that the letters can be collected from Holbeach.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said that the suspension is temporary while the matter is sorted out.
She said the dog was often loose in the area and intimidated staff delivering mail.
“Suspending deliveries is often a last resort as we recognise the vast majority of dog owners are very responsible and keep their pets under control.”
