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THIS patch of tarmac is all that remains
to remind local people of the pillar box that stood on this site.
Until, that is, the elf 'n' safety people at Royal Mail decided
it was not safe to let it stay.
Was it in danger of
toppling over? No. Was the slot for the letters
 too small and might
trap someone's hand, or have a sharp edge that might cut them? No and no.
The problem was the tiny
wall (above) in front of the pillar box. It might cause
difficulties for the postmen and women or the public. Ridiculous.
An adult could easily reach over to post a letter or empty the box.
And any child could have stood safely on the wall
and dropped the mail in the box with the supervision of a
responsible adult. Any child too small to reach even from the wall
could have been held up to the box by the adult.
The pillar box stood on the
corner of the forecourt in front of Hospital Street Methodist Church
and the wall is part of the barrier that runs right across the front
of the area - apart from the entrance, of course.
But in these days of the
farce of legal
action left, right and centre faced by local authorities and
others, the Royal Mail decided it was better to move the pillar box
away from the wall. To date, the box hasn't been re-sited. (See
update).
I suppose - to be fair -
you can't blame the Royal Mail in a way. It is much cheaper to move the
box than risk having to pay out a big sum to someone incapable to
doing something simple like safely posting a letter when there is the
smallest obstacle to their endeavours. There has been no suggestion
that the wall caused problems for people in wheelchairs and so that
was not, presumably, a reason for the move. The slot would have been
too high without the wall, in any case.
Forget the local traders
who fill the pillar box with their daily post - and provide
much-needed (it would seem) income for Royal Mail. They will just
have to take their post over to The Square or to the
box in the foyer of Morrison's supermarket. Or the box, below, in
Pillory Street.
What an age we live in!
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