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The bizarre closure of Royal Mail postboxes in a Cornish village has been branded “daft” and “inconvenient”. A Marazion business owner contacted Royal Mail about the unusual closure of a postbox after a metal telecomms pole was installed nearby – only for another to close days later because snails keep eating the post.
Despite remaining open since the pole was installed by Open Reach last March, the Royal Mail postbox was closed without warning earlier this month. After receiving a complaint about the closure, Royal Mail said it had to be closed for health and safety reasons because staff can no longer get to the box to retrieve mail – despite claims it’s just as easy to get to.
A town councillor said it’s “health and safety gone mad” saying in a century the postbox has never had any issues. Richard Stokoe said it was ” beyond baffling” as the previously erected wooden pole was closer to one postbox than the new metal one is. “Nobody can work out how there is any health and safety issues with an extra pole being sort of nearbyish,” he said.
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Dismayed at the situation, Mr Stokoe said: “If someone can get in to seal it all up then it must be fine to empty the bloody thing as well. Two World Wars and Covid didn’t stop it from being shut but a telephone pole further away than an existing one has ended its never ending ability to be open for business 24/7.”
Business owners Liz and Charlotte, who run nearby tea room Copper Spoon, made a complaint to Royal Mail due to the closure impacting their business. Then to their surprise just days later a second post box was closed in the village giving a new meaning to the phrase snail mail. Also sealed up, the post box has a note on it which reads ‘TEMP CLOSURE SNAILS EATING MAIL’.
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(Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
In response to their complaint, Royal Mail said the initial post box was sealed over health and safety concerns as a pole was erected in front of it. It said it hoped to resolve the issue within 25 weeks.
In the response, a staff member for Royal Mail said: “I’m sorry to learn that one of our post boxes is currently sealed and I appreciate the inconvenience caused. I’ve therefore reported the details to the relevant Collections Planning Manager to resolve this issue.
“The manager has advised that the post box has been sealed due to health and safety concerns, as a pole has been erected in front of the box. As a result, we have been unable to fully access the box to ensure mail can be collected.
“Additionally, the manager will investigate with the relevant maintenance team to ensure the necessary work is carried out. Regrettably, we’re unable to provide a specific timeframe for this work to be completed; however, we do aim to resolve issues of this nature within 25 weeks.
“Thanks for taking the time to contact us about this matter and I hope you’ll accept my apologies, once again, for any upset we may have caused. Please be assured that we’ll use this information to make further improvements.”
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