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SNP MSP Christine Grahame has urged royal mail customers who live in particularly rural parts of the Borders, which are exempt from the universal delivery service on grounds of inaccessibility, to appeal their status with the Royal Mail following the publication of a report by Postwatch which found that 55% of the locations they visited did not meet the Royal Mail's exemption criteria. Ms Grahame said:
"According to the Royal Mail, in 2006 there were 2,671 delivery points in the UK designated as exceptions to the universal delivery. 1,192 of them are in Scotland and 93% of those fall under the category of difficulty of access. Clearly, given these figures, the watchdog was right to look into the situation.
"In 46 of the 83 visits that Postwatch officials made, they found that the round trip to the address could be made either on foot or in a vehicle within the 15 minutes allocated by the Royal Mail. They also found that these routes were passable in an ordinary family car, so ought to prove no problem for a post van.
"Postwatch also discovered a number of addresses where deliveries to the door had ceased because of the provision of a postbus, which had subsequently ceased to operate. However, the original daily service was not reinstated.
"Clearly there are always going to be some locations that are simply not readily accessible by a postman on a daily delivery and we should not be asking an overstretched service to undertake those most remote deliveries. However, where there are places that clearly do not fall within the Royal Mail's own criteria for exemption, they ought to be receiving deliveries just the same as everyone else.
"Postwatch states that their findings point to 'an unsatisfactory postal service for many rural customers' which I would agree with. However, customers who are currently exempt from the universal delivery can appeal in writing to their Delivery Office Manager, details can be found on the Royal Mail's website and the local phone book."
"I would urge anybody who is currently exempt from the universal delivery and who feels that their circumstances do not in fact justify that exemption to contact the Royal Mail and ask for their situation to be reviewed."
Customers in Galashiels can contact their Delivery Office Manager by writing to Galashiels Delivery Office 1 Channel Street , Galashiels , Selkirkshire , TD1 1AA
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