It doesn’t seem possible, but it’s about to get harder for Wanstead residents to collect letters and parcels which have not for whatever reason made it through their letterboxes.
The sight of people heading to Leytonstone’s Royal Mail sorting office clutching a “Sorry you were out” card has become familiar on Saturday mornings, since between 9am and lunchtime is the only time outside office hours that the collection office is open.
But from next week the car park at the office will be closed to the public. A sign in the office says it is “due to H&S and Yard RISK ASSESSMENT”.
With no options nearby for parking, this means Wanstead people will either have to walk, go by bus or Tube, or have someone wait in the car while they go and collect the item from the office. The area outside the office is clearly a no parking zone.
Theoretically there are other options for undelivered mail, such as a redelivery, or the item being left at a Post Office branch. But – anecdotally at least – it seems these are rarely used successfully because of difficulties in getting through on the phone line.
Many Wanstead residents will wonder whether it would be better for undelivered Wanstead mail to be routinely left at the Wanstead Post Office. Wansteadium will be writing to the Delivery Office Manager to make this suggestion.
How can the Delivery Office Manager try to send us his regards after having put together such a terrible notice? Using capitals, bold type and underlining really doesn’t make it any more meaningful.
I would like to know how they are catering for less able people. Some use a car because they’re not able to walk the distance required and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were the people most dependent on what’s left of our postal system.
probably more to do with the post men not being able to drive properly. Great if you have kids and need to drag them out of the car… not!
It was nice of them to let us know too! They could have put something with the you were out card to say that you couldn’t park there.
sigh – it’s all so terribly predictable,isn’t it?
the last time I went to collect they couldn’t find my parcel – so they phoned the postman (in his van) and it turned out it had fallen under his seat and had been there for several days (obviously)
I can recommend the walk to Leytonstone, more relaxing than the car and beats the gym ! And you get to see historic sites like what was the Red Lion where Fleetwood Mac played in the 70s.
Today I had to wake up an hour before I’d usually get up, and cycle the 3 mile round-trip to the Leytonstone office, in order to collect a package at 7am because the collection office staff seem to work even shorter hours than bank tellers!
I honestly still can’t understand attempting to deliver a package to a home address during the day when people are out at work; and then having the most ridiculous opening hours to enable that person to collect their package!?! Closing at midday and not being open on a Sunday is inexcusable in this modern age, and the removal of parking at that site is just further making things difficult, and another pathetic H&S victim too! No wonder Royal Mail is fast becoming renamed Royal Fail in so many blows and tweets!! Wanstead deserves it’s own collection point!
that leytonstone collection office is rubbish. even when we lived in leytonstone the restrictive hours were a pain. when we lived in wanstead we had to get things redelivered to the post office as we don’t have a car. you end up paying a small fortune.
now we live in Walthamstow and they even have evening opening times! it’s a revelation.
The leaving of mail at Wanstead post office sounds an excellent idea, put me down for the petition – as someone who’s expected to wander down 3 flights of stairs to sign for things at 7am on a Saturday morning I’ve little faith in the Leytonstone branches understanding of customer service though!