Residents at a block of Scots high-rise flats have described their shock after Royal Mail suspended all – after a postie was threatened.
Tenants of Clyde Tower in East Kilbride received a letter on November 2 explaining that their postal service had been halted. Officials said it was due to a “serious incident of abuse” to a member of staff attempting to deliver post to the address.
It said the incident, which has been reported to the police, will be investigated internally – but until service can safely be resumed, residents of all 114 flats must collect their post between scheduled hours at the nearest post office. While Royal Mail have not released details of the abuse experienced by the postie, residents believe a man living in the building may have threatened the employee with his dog.
One resident said he “understands the importance of keeping the postman safe,” but says it’s “shocking” to leave the many pensioners in the building with reduced access to their mail.
The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The first we heard of it was when we received a letter from Royal Mail saying that mail to Clyde Tower had been cancelled until further notice, because one of their postmen had been abused by one person in the tower block. Nobody told us what the incident was. We know that there was an incident where one person abused the postman.
“Everyone in here has a good idea who has done it, but we can’t prove it because the name and address haven’t been given out. If it’s the person I’m thinking of, he has a dog that has actually bitten other residents and been spoken to by police about it.
“There are 114 flats in here – albeit it’s a high rise flat, but it’s essentially like a whole street getting banned.”
Clyde Tower, at 19 stories, is the tallest residential tower block in East Kilbride and houses a number of pensioners, a lot of whom don’t drive, says one resident. They worry that pensioners in the building may struggle to commute to the post office – or may lack the ID required to collect their letters in person.
“We were told we could pick up our mail between 8AM-10AM in the morning, but we have to have a form of ID – a passport or drivers license,” said the resident. “A lot of the pensioners in here don’t have passports or driving licenses.
“I know a lot of them don’t drive, and I wouldn’t think a lot of them have a passport either. The closest post office to us is the one in the town centre.
“We stay in St. Leonard’s and the bus service is every half hour. The nearest post office isn’t anywhere near us. There’s also one on Stuart Street – in the old village of East Kilbride, even further away.
“There are a lot of people in here that are 70 and above – and they just can’t manage to commute to a post office every day. A lot of people in here can’t easily make it out. They’re not receiving letters for doctors’ appointments or hospital appointments.
“We can appeal, but the appeal can take three to four weeks.
“To punish this many people for the sake of one person – it’s shocking.”
The letter sent by Royal Mail explains that part of their internal investigation will involve “considering what needs to be done to ensure employee safety before restoring mail deliveries in your locality.” It outlined that the “exceptional step has been taken in order safeguard Royal Mail employees,” after multiple instances of abuse and previous attempts to remedy the situation.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We take the welfare of our posties very seriously and, where necessary, will take steps to ensure their safety. We will continue to assess the current exemption however, it is our priority that posties are able to carry out their duties without fear of violence.”
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