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A DELIVERY bike carrying bags stuffed full of confidential mail was abandoned on a West End street, sparking concerns about the security of a private postal service being used by hospitals, banks and councils.
The TNT Post bicycle was left unattended in Little Russell Street on Friday before a passing police officer was flagged down by Bloomsbury resident Noel Gordon, who was worried that opportunistic thieves could walk off with dozens of private letters.
Mr Gordon said: “There was no sign of anyone from TNT and the panniers on the bicycle were open and full of mail, anybody could just come along and lift all the mail out.”
The community support officer guarded the bike while he contacted the TNT Post depot, who said their delivery man had reported the bike as stolen.
The company last night (Thursday) said they take security issues “very seriously” and pledged to investigate the incident after being alerted to it by the West End Extra.
The controversial delivery company – which bills itself as “Royal Mail’s biggest challenger for business mail of all kinds” – is already facing an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office after confidential letters were found dumped in river in Barnet.
Bloomsbury residents have repeatedly raised concerns about the delivery service, which included confidential documents being posted through communal letter boxes in mansion blocks.
Mr Gordon said: “There’s been a long history of problems with TNT in Bloomsbury. It’s been going on for at least 18 months.
“Barclays Bank use them, Thames Water, BT, and the NHS seem to use them, so there’s lot’s of issues. Not the sort of thing you’d want just lying around.”
Albert Beale, who lives in Bloomsbury, described it as an “utter disaster” and said: “This sort of situation has been going on in our area continually for over a year now. TNT’s promises to sort it out clearly mean nothing. Surely the regulator which allows them to do door-to-door deliveries should remove their licence and force them to hand everything to Royal Mail to be delivered properly.”
A spokesman for the company said this week: “TNT Post takes the security of mail very seriously and has very high standards to which we operate. We will investigate the issue you have raised.”
Responding to residents’ concerns in April, a spokesman said in an emailed statement: “We have received a warm response from local residents since we began our deliveries and have been in discussion with this residents group in Bloomsberry [sic] on several occasions over the past year to discuss their specific delivery requirements and will continue to work hard to ensure we do this to a satisfactory level.”
A Camden police spokesman said a PCSO was “contacted by a member of the public as he had come across an abandoned TNT delivery bike,” adding: “The bike was full of mail so he moved the bike from the street.”
“PSCO Iain Nicholson contacted TNT and was advised that a courier had reported it stolen to his office after he left it in Little Russell Street. A courier attended Little Russell Street around 15.45hrs and the bike was retuned.”
