Post workers banned from village

Royal Mail said Booze's narrow lanes posed a safety risk

People living in a remote hamlet in the Yorkshire Dales have criticised the Royal Mail over a decision to stop delivering their post.

Royal Mail stopped deliveries to Booze, in Arkengarthdale, because it said the narrow track leading to people's homes was too hazardous for its workers.

Angry residents now face a 30-mile round trip to collect their mail.

Royal Mail said a risk assessment carried out after staff complaints had concluded the track was too dangerous.

It said the track was too narrow for mail vans and was so steep that postmen and women could be left with a long-term back injury if they delivered mail on foot.

'Concerns raised'

Residents now have to travel to their nearest sorting office to pick up their mail, which they say is a 45-minute drive away.

Hazel Harker, a local farmer, said: "Shock was the first reaction because we've always had a Royal Mail service ever since my family's been here since 1945.

"And all through the years we've always had Royal Mail deliver, you know either on foot or since there were vans the postman's come up by van."

She said: "There's a lot of country roads round here that are narrow and you have just got to drive carefully.

"If it's not safe for a postman to come up then it's not safe for the residents to use it either."

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: "Because of concerns raised by our postmen and women, a health and safety assessment was carried out and, as it concluded that there was a risk to our people delivering to a small number of homes in Arkengarthdale, alternative arrangements for delivering the post have now been made."