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RESIDENTS have called for a postbox to be reinstated in Poole so elderly people aren’t forced to walk up and down one of the steepest hills in town.
Before the post box on Alder Road was removed, campaigners had contacted Royal Mail to have it ‘ungagged’ as it had been decommissioned and its mail slot had been covered up.
But Royal Mail had refused to reinstall the postbox, which was the closest box to the Boyd Road Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) sheltered housing complex.
Mail bosses said the replacement postbox at the new Co-op, Alder Road, was only 150-metres away and, therefore, met Royal Mail’s requirement to ensure 98 per cent of all households across the UK should be within half a mile of a postbox.
However, local resident Mary Van Coller – who has taken on the fight to get the postbox recommissioned – disputes the nearest postbox is 150-metres away.
She says the postbox at the new Co-op is more than 300-metres, more than a half kilometre round trip up and down a steep hill.
She also believes mail bosses are unaware of the gradient of the hill, and just how steep it is for the elderly to navigate
Mrs Van Coller said: “The decision -makers at Royal Mail have decreed that if the elderly and frail folk who live in Boyd Road PHP sheltered housing want to send letters to their loved ones or pay their bills they are capable of walking down the steep hill to the nearest alternative post box.
“Then they can turn around and climb back up the hill to get home – it’s just not possible with rollators, and positively dangerous in icy conditions.
“In these times of Covid when our elderly neighbours are experiencing loneliness and mental health issues it seems cruel to deny them this vital contact with family and friends.”
Currently, Boyd Road residents are able to cut through Gateway Church and make their way onto Alder Road.
Richard Stamp, one of the leaders at Gateway Church, has even offered to house a new post box on the church site.
The Royal Mail has been contacted for a response
