Camden News: Bungle forces postmen to stoop and deliver

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Camden News - By CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS and JULIA PHILLIPS
Published: 10 April 2008

Cllr Adrian Oliver on the Highgate West Hill estate

Bungle forces postmen to stoop and deliver

ASK any postie what height a letter box should be and they’re more than likely to tell you as long as they can reach it, it’s fine.
Ask contractors working on an estate in Highgate and they’ll start spouting European directives at you.
At least, that’s the excuse Camden have apparently been given for a back-breaking error on the Holly Lodge estate.
Letterboxes on a newly refurbished block in a Highgate West Hill estate have been fitted at just over one foot above the ground – forcing postmen and women to bend over at every door to deliver mail.
What Postman Pat and his black and white cat would have made of the European directive EN 13724 – a list of specifications that the blunder can be traced back to – is anyone’s guess.
But given that Pat was often roped in to solve his neighbours’ problems, it is likely he would have agreed with Green ward councillor Adrian Oliver, who said: “There’s been a lack of common sense.”
The directive in question states that letterboxes and door locks must be placed two feet apart. But contractors got their maths wrong and placed letterboxes almost a foot lower than they should have.
Lib Dem housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor admitted: “For future capital works schemes and situations, we will ensure that the letterbox is [as] raised as possible to provide the greatest ease of use for postal workers.”
But for Holly Lodge’s posties, the folly is likely to prove a recurring pain in the back.

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