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A disabled woman in her 60s has said she is ‘filled with despair’ after the Royal Mail refused to deliver post to her remote hamlet because the route’s windy road is ‘too dangerous’.
Val Bennallick, 62, who has multiple sclerosis, was left without deliveries for a month before being informed that postmen had no intention of returning to the bumpy track which leads to Essworthy, a hamlet in east Devon.
Instead, the retired teacher was told that she and the hamlet’s seven other residents would have to complete a 14-mile round trip to collect their parcels from Okehampton, a neighbouring town.
Ms Bennallick told The Times: ‘I don’t want to be cut off from the mail, but I wasn’t told for over a month. You think to yourself, how on earth can that happen? It’s just ridiculous.’
Eventually, the courier told Ms Bennallick that the route was too unsafe even to inform her of the change.
She continued: ‘To me, it’s a vital service. I do a lot of things online but some things have to be sent to me, like labels for my regular blood tests.’
Residents of Essworthy now face either putting up a postbox elsewhere or travelling 14 miles in total to collect their post.
Although she admitted the road ‘wasn’t good’, Ms Bennallick, who drives a Ford Fiesta, said that the other residents, tradesmen and workers delivering oil nonetheless travel on it ‘every day’.
Pictured: The road leading to Essworthy, on the outskirts of Hatherleigh in east Devon (sourced for MailOnline by Royal Mail)
Pictured: The road leading to Essworthy, on the outskirts of Hatherleigh in east Devon (sourced for MailOnline by Royal Mail)
The outspoken retiree complained to Royal Mail in a number of emails. In one, she called the courier’s conduct ‘unbelievable, unprofessional, uncaring and downright disgusting.’
‘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.’
A Royal Mail employee apologised to Ms Bennallick, who is now awaiting a response from the local delivery office manager.
A Royal Mail spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘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 Ms Bennallick.
‘We are reassessing these deliveries as a matter of urgency and will work with Ms Bennallick to provide a solution.’
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