Following a theft of letter box keys from Royal Mail staff on Saturday 16th February in Leyton, the Royal Mail has been forced to temporarily seal 14 of their iconic red pillar boxes in the Waltham Forest area. They have confirmed that the post boxes will remain out of action until such they can be fitted with new locks.
In a statement, the Royal Mail said it took the decision to temporarily seal the pillar boxes, most of which are in Walthamstow, “to protect the security of our customers mail”. It is believed that two post boxes in Leyton and one in Leytonstone have also been removed from service for the time being.
The spokesperson for Royal Mail added that the organisation “…apologises to any of it’s customers who have been inconvenienced by this theft”.
At Post Boxes UK, we feel that this is the only reasonable action the Royal Mail can take given the circumstances and potential security issues. That it took the Royal Mail approximately one week to take action is a more worrying concern. It might then take another week to replace the locks.
Indeed, The Guardian newspaper pressed the Royal Mail asking the question as to whether any mail had been stolen as a result of the theft of keys, to which it declined to comment.
Will will learn of any instances of mail theft as a result of these keys being stolen? It is doubtful in our opinion. The Royal Mail
