Postal workers in rural Cornish town say they’re living in fear from attacks by divebombing seagulls who have left them ‘running for their lives’ on their routes

Postal workers in a rural Cornish town have said they are living in fear after a string of attacks by divebombing seagulls.

The Royal Mail has been forced to apologise to locals in Liskeard for delayed deliveries after the birds were spotted ‘sweeping’ towards posties from rooftops in the area.

Residents of the market town have been advised to either wait for deliveries to arrive when the seagulls are not as aggressive, or let the Royal Mail know an alternative address that post can be sent to.

The Royal Mail added that the birds seemed to be protecting their young and viewed some people as a possible threat.

One local agreed that the animals were being selective about who they picked on, pointing out that they also targeted council workers.

The Royal Mail has been forced to apologise to locals in Liskeard for delayed deliveries after the birds were spotted ‘sweeping’ towards posties from rooftops in the area (Stock Photo)

The Royal Mail added that the birds seemed to be protecting their young and viewed some people as a possible threat

She told Cornwall Live: ‘They don’t attack me for some reason, but the posties and any council workers are running for their lives.

‘My next-door neighbour who’s elderly got swooped and knocked over, but he admits he also throws stuff at them — I always greet them.’

The resident argued that the young seagulls were cute so she was not bothered about her deliveries arriving late, The Times reports.

She joked that she had never received a letter before from the Royal Mail and that the message had made her laugh.

In the Royal Mail’s letter, dated June 20, Ryan Lean, customer operations manager for the Liskeard depot, said: ‘As you may be aware, we are currently experiencing some difficulties safely delivering to you and your neighbour due to seagulls in the area, swooping at delivering staff in order to protect their young. 

‘The purpose of this letter is to firstly advise you of the issues we are experiencing but also to assure you that we will continue to attempt deliveries every day.

‘I appreciate this is not ideal. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may cause but whilst Royal Mail is committed to providing a consistent daily delivery to addresses, we do place the highest priority on the safety of our employees.

‘Rest assured that we will be monitoring the situation on a daily basis with a view to resuming normal service to you and your neighbour as soon as possible.’

This is not the first time that pesky birds have thwarted postal workers.

In 2019, people living on a road in Argyll and Bute did not have their post delivered for weeks after a series of seagull attacks on posties, with one even twisting his ankle as he attempted to escape the mischievous birds in Helensburgh.

David McArthur, a local, said that postal workers had largely been able to avoid injury by ‘staying in their van and beeping the horn for us to run out and get the post’.

Two years earlier, a street in Hereford was compared to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror movie The Birds when the animals began dive-bombing passersby.

One local agreed that the animals were being selective about who they picked on, pointing out that they also targeted council workers

In 2017 a street in Hereford was compared to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror movie The Birds (pictured: Hitchcock in a promotion photo for the film)

One postman even reported that a bird had flown straight into his head.

The chaos in Liskeard comes after the Royal Mail failed to meet its delivery targets for first and second-class deliveries for the 2022/23 financial year, resulting in a £5.6million issued by Ofcom last November.

The regulator can consider any evidence of any exceptional circumstances which might explain failed targets.