Lochinver businessman calls on Royal Mail to fit winter tyres to its post vans after deliveries cancelled in recent wintry weather

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https://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/l ... re-372624/

Local businessman Durrant Macleod, a former postman who this year celebrates 60 years running Hillhead Caravans in Achmelvich with his wife Maysie, said the Royal Mail’s “stupid internal rule” over winter tyres had caused great inconvenience.

He has now raised the issue with Sutherland MP Jamie Stone.

Mr Macleod said the Royal Mail delivery service in north-west Sutherland was normally “wonderful” and “second to none”. He also praised local postal workers, saying they were “quite superb and do a marvellous job.”

But he said that mail deliveries stopped on January 7 and did not resume for almost a fortnight.

“The mail arrived at Lochinver most days, but after it had been sorted and the post vans attempted to go out, they just sat there spinning and there the mail stayed,” he said.

Mr Macleod added that while the vans were sitting in the depot, other people were able to drive around.

He said: “We do not expect them (the posties) to be foolhardy and get stuck. They are sensible people and know what they are doing - that is why they gave up because of the tyres. Meanwhile, most of us with proper tyres were driving around freely.

“Royal Mail will not fit winter tyres on their vehicles, and when asked why, the answer was reportedly that it would give the drivers too much confidence. What an absolute load of claptrap!

“This is a silly rule, obviously made by someone in an office who does not have a clue about safety because this actually puts their drivers at unnecessary risk for no reason.”

Mr Macleod recalled his own driving career as a postman and haulage contractor.

“I was a postman in the late 1960s and we had Town and Country winter tyres, similar to today’s winter ones, plus chains and a bag of chips in the back for weight,” he said.

“When I was a postman, we had very bad winters and not once were we unable to deliver to even the remotest household. We were able to stop on hills to help other drivers and just drive away again, even through some quite deep snow.

For a great many years, I was one of the fish lorry drivers who left the harbour late at night, always after the snow ploughs had parked up, and I always got through - because I had winter tyres. Our own vehicles are always fitted with winter tyres as standard.

“In 65 years of driving, as a postman and a haulage contractor, I have only turned back twice, once when a foreign lorry was well and truly stuck across the road on Knockan Hill, and again when the snow was in drifts and one side was actually up to the windscreen of my lorry - I thought it prudent to retreat.”

MP Jamie Stone said: “Anyone who lives in the far north knows that the changing of tyres in winter only makes sense.

MP Jamie Stone said Royal Mail should ask posties in Lochinver about the challenges of their work.MP Jamie Stone said Royal Mail should ask posties in Lochinver about the challenges of their work.

“All too often, we see centrally based organisations completely misunderstand the challenges of living and working in the remotest areas, which experience some of the worst weather.

“Now, very sadly, we see the Royal Mail falling foul of this trend when really, they should know better. They could start by asking the posties on the ground about some of the challenges of their work.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The safety of our posties is our highest priority. Recent severe weather, which blighted large portions of the country and resulted in compacted snow and ice, significantly impacted on deliveries.

“Our contingency plans involved constant monitoring and the assessment of routes, ensuring that we continued to deliver to postcodes which remained accessible.

“Driving conditions were not the only factor in determining whether it was safe to deliver and, with over half of our routes either entirely or mostly on foot, we had to consider the risks to our posties when walking in snowy and icy conditions.

“Since conditions improved, we’ve worked to deliver all delayed items with regular deliveries resuming throughout the UK.”

“As an additional point on tyres, cold weather tyres do provide additional grip in severe conditions but in fact provide less grip when the weather gets warmer and will deteriorate quickly. In typical UK conditions, they can cause problems as well as solve them and so we do not routinely fit them to vehicles. We do however fit them in some remote areas with exceptional conditions where risk assessment has identified them as a requirement.”