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A woman from Devon was left frustrated after Royal Mail delivery workers missed stopping by her rural village over concerns the road was “too dangerous”. Val Bennallick, 62, lives in Essworthy, a hamlet near Hatherleigh and just north of Dartmoor, where the residents did not receive Royal Mail deliveries for a month, citing the narrow country lane as the cause.
The retired teacher and her neighbours were left without letters and parcels for more than a month before they were informed the service had paused deliveries back in December. Instead, Val said she had been advised to make the 14-mile round trip to Okehampton to collect her post.
Admitting the road “wasn’t good,” Val said other residents, tradespeople and workers make the trip nonetheless. Val told The Times: “The oil deliveries come in and out. There isn’t a tradesman or anything who won’t come down here, apart from the Royal Mail.” For some items, such as Val’s blood test labels, Val says it is a “vital service”.
In a series of letters to Royal Mail, Val said: “All the upset and stress this has caused would be bad enough for any young, fit person but I have a number of health issues. The prospect of having to travel 14 miles to try and get answers and doing that same trip for the rest of my life to get my post just fills me with dread and despair.”
She added that she does not wish to be “cut off” from the service, but says she was not informed of the change for a month. “After a month, they said it was too unsafe to come down here and that they’re very sorry, but it was also too unsafe to let me know,” Val said. Royal Mail has said it has since worked out a solution for Val and the residents in Essworthy.
At the end of last month, regulator Ofcom announced proposals to end second class letter deliveries on Saturday, and reduce the service to alternate weekdays, as well as lowering the Royal Mail’s delivery targets.
The Royal Mail told DevonLive there is no outstanding post for the residents in Essworthy. A spokesperson said: “Deliveries were suspended due to concerns from the local team about the poor quality of the private road.
“We are sorry that this was not communicated to Mrs Bennallick. We have spoken to Mrs Bennallick today and provided her with a solution.”
