Anger as postie fails to stick to letter of the law

Jan 7 2009 by Lynda Nicol, East Kilbride News

AN EAST Kilbride householder found himself delivering an angry blast in the direction of the Royal Mail – twice on the same day.

For on his way to his local Post Office, East Mains man Neil Smith came across a postbag full of mail lying seemingly abandoned in the street.

And when he returned home, he discovered his postman had popped a recorded delivery letter containing his new car road tax disc through his letterbox, without bothering to get a signature.

Said Neil: “I was hurrying to my local Post Office one Saturday in the run-up to Christmas to get there before it closed at 12.30pm when I saw the bag of mail leaning against a lamp post at the corner of Roslyn Avenue and Elgin Avenue.

“It was full and there was mail sitting on top of it. There was no sign of a postman or woman anywhere near it.

“Anyone could have picked it up and made off with it.

“I complained at the Post Office and they said they would try and contact the postman to find out what was happening.

“Then, when I drove home I discovered the postman had been in my absence and had put a recorded delivery letter containing my road tax disc through the door without getting a signature for it as they are supposed to.

“Frankly, this is not good enough.”

A Royal Mail spokeswoman agreed.

She said the postman had temporarily left the bag in the street while he was at a nearby property.

She added: “Royal Mail takes the security of the mail extremely seriously.

“It is important to stress that no mail has gone missing or been delayed in any way because of this incident.

“However, the mail bag should not have been left unattended and Royal Mail will take appropriate action to ensure this does not happen again.

“Recorded Signed For items of mail should not be delivered without obtaining a signature and again appropriate action will be taken where there is evidence that this has occurred."