Stoke postbox closed after 60 years... because of health and safety!

“That Post Box appears on a postcard that is a a lot older than 60 years, and was there before double yellow lines, and was there before zebra/Pelican crossings or Sainsbury`s or indeed before the birth of the jobsworth who has declared it a Health and Safety issue and who authorised its closure.

Shame on you Royal Mail, respect your own history, dont listen to Ford, "history is not bunk", he`s dead and more or less forgotten, how much more of our street furniture heritage is going to vanish, and senseisteve that is the Councils responsibility.

Like the iconic red phone boxes now gone, and as far as I am aware the only cast iron direction post in the City is up at Goldenhill, and I dont believe the City as any Mileage posts at all remaining, no wells, no cast iron Gas lights, no cast iron direction signs in the Parks( never replaced after their theft by the itinerant metal thieves from over the waters).

The City is too busy wondering where the pot banks have gone, no doubt???”

“That post box is obviously in a bad place. It's by double yellows and a pedestrian crossing zone. No wonder it's being closed. I recently watched a postman empty a postbox (not that one). It was well stuffed I can tell you. It took him about five minutes to unload the mail from the bottom of the box, which looked decidedly uncomfortable. (Not the box, him). The postal items seemed to be very well wedged in inside a kind of net and the postie really had to yank them out. Talk about elf n safety, he must have a permanent crick in his back. He shut the door of the letterbox and staggered towards his van. He didn't notice that one letter had fell on the pavement. Before the wind whisked it into oblivion, a woman watching from a car window drew his attention to it. I wondered how many other letters get scattered to the winds like this one almost did.”

“if the TRUE reason for this closure is Health & Safety, then why not install the postbox on the pavement by the entrance to Sainsbury's? The residents will still have an easily accessible post box, the driver collectors will have a safe place to park whilst they perform their duty - a win/win situation. Unless of course the Sainsbury's car park is deemed to dangerous ....... then that DOES open a nasty can of worms, doesn't it.”

“It's not that they have closed a postbox, it's that they feel the need to put a 'spin' on why they've done it which infuriates. 'Because there's one down the street so it saves us time and money' is perfectly reasonable and acceptable and we don't feel we've had our intelligence insulted in the process.”

“how is it that the post office in college road shelton and the post box are still standing and in use ? our local post office was closed down and the post box removed. Many pensioners were forced to go into hanley. Its disgusting, anyone can go down to college road shelton, and see for them selves the reason why they have a post box and a post office. Yes i do mean College road Shelton Stoke on Trent. England. Any one guessed ?”

“"Mark Griffiths, Royal Mail collections support manager for Stoke on Trent, said: "As part of our ongoing activities it has become necessary to permanently remove this postbox from service due to the location no longer allowing a suitable, safe, location to collect from the box"

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In that case Mr Griffiths, all post boxes in a similar location must also be removed from service, otherwise you are deliberatley exposing your staff to a known risk.”

“Why do jobsworths have to hide behind 'health and safety' instead of being honest and putting forward the real reasons for their decisions? All this type of behaviour does is give genuine heath and safety concerns a bad name. Post box in the middle of the A500 = dangerous, postbox in a town centre, 30mph zone, straight road with good visibility, space for vehicles to overtake = not dangerous.

I guess that Royal Mail have decided that they no longer wish to collect from this post box for efficiency reasons but dare not say so i.e. that there are other post boxes nearby, these are never full, therefore with falling mail volumes it makes sense to cut out the number of boxes collected from. Why can't they just say that?”

“ROYAL Mail is no longer collecting post from a postbox – for health and safety reasons Thats total B****** sorry more like saving money last one only of england in 2012 lock the door !”

“I've no doubt that there are safety issues here as unless the RM van were to pull off the main route then the driver would be getting out of the vehicle into the traffic to empty the box on what is a narrow, busy road. I could understand the outcry if there wasn't an alternative but isn't that a pedestrian crossing just behind Mrs Sellars in the photo? It is hardly an effort to cross the road and post at Sainsbury's. In this commercially driven world, well done to Royal Mail in using the opportunity to cut costs.”

“health and safety. What rubbish. If the Royal Mail WANTED to collect from this box then they would find a way. Equally if Royal Mail WANTED to stop acting like spoiled brats then I am sure that they could find a way.”