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PrintHut.co.uk® Get Royal Mail to Respond to Doncaster’s Dodgy Pavement!

By 26/06/2012July 3rd, 2015Full Fat Blog, What's Happening?

Readers may recall a previous post regarding the story about Businesses on a street in South Yorkshire have been told by Royal Mail they will not have printed mail delivered on rainy days after a postman slipped and injured himself. You’ve now got to collect your own mail on rainy days…That means no direct mail, printed invoices, printed marketing brochures or vital transactional communications will be delivered, despite a universal service obligation agreement that has formed the backbone of postal provision in the UK.

Well we said we would get an official response from Royal Mail and here it is. A massive thanks to our mate, Martyn Harvey, a postal Boff within the Direct Mail Industry and head man at Mail and Print for pulling a few strings. (pictured left)

He tracked down, Heulyn Gwyn Davies, head of Royal Mail External Relationships, and here’s what she said to Martyn

From: Heulyn Davies [mailto:heulyn.davies@royalmail.com]

Sent: 14 June 2012 13:23
To: Martyn Harvey
Cc: Jim Bulmer
Subject: Royal Mail

Afternoon Martyn

Pl see the background as discussed – if you need anything else, please let me know

Doncaster
We have decided to suspend deliveries to South Parade after a delivery colleague slipped on algae and moss (exacerbated by the wet weather conditions) and broke his shoulder.
A full risk assessment was undertaken (as always happens to ensure consistency) and it was decided to that we should suspend immediately – especially as we had already requested several times that the Council improve the pavement to make it safer underfoot.
However, this suspension only applies during extreme wet weather conditions and we will always take any mail which cannot be delivered on any other day.
This is now being resolved forthwith and the Council has instructed it’s Street Cleaning Team to remove the algae etc
We hope to reinstate full deliveries as soon as possible.
The response we issued to this was as follows:
Royal Mail spokeswoman, Morag Turnbull said: “Last Friday, a member of staff fell due to algae and moss on the pavement and steps at South Parade and consequently broke his shoulder. Following a risk assessment of the area, we have notified Doncaster Council of the danger posed by the poor condition of the pavement and steps. We have explained to customers in South Parade that we must suspend deliveries to their address as a precautionary measure until the surfaces are improved by Doncaster Council. Customers will be able to collect their mail from Doncaster Delivery Office. We know this is inconvenient and we apologise to customers, but the safety and welfare of our staff is paramount and we only suspend deliveries if the safety of our postmen and women is at risk. Royal Mail delivers to almost 29 million addresses across the UK and our postmen and women go out in all weather conditions including wind, rain, snow and ice so it is always a last resort if we decide not to deliver to a specific address or addresses.”
Heulyn
________________________________
Heulyn Gwyn Davies
Head of External Relations, England and Wales
Pennaeth Cysylltiadau Allanol, Lloegr a Chymru

Royal Mail Group Ltd
Grŵp y Post Brenhinol Cyf
3/F 100 Victoria Embankment, LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ