A GROUP of Torfaen residents are angry after the Royal Mail refused to deliver to their row of houses.

People who live on the 10-house Severn View, Pentwyn, including a 91-year-old, have had to walk up a hill to their nearest post office for more than four months due to the refusal.

The refusal by the Royal Mail is believed to have come about in early July when a postman complained that the road was “too dangerous” due to there being a grass verge between the car path and the houses. But with many of them elderly, there are concerns over the situation as the weather gets worse over the winter.

Richard Osborne, 70, said: “We still get all of our junk mail through the letterbox but anything important like the deeds to my house, are sitting in the post office, it’s unbelievable.

“They even refuse to put slips through your door for parcels that are too big and need collecting – how will you know that if they don’t put the slip through the door? I’ve written to my local MP as it’s just gone on long enough.”

For an initial week in July, residents were expected to collect their own post each day at the Royal Mail sorting office in Pontnewynydd until the local post office interjected and allowed them to pick their deliveries up from there.

Eileen Hatch, 91, said: “Not being able to have our post delivered is upsetting, we are lucky Jackie and Paul volunteered to take our papers so we go up there.

“When the weather gets worse I may not be able to walk up to the post office and I’ll have to rely on my neighbours or my son.”

The current impasse has led local Torfaen Councillor Gwyneira Clarke upset with this “withdrawal of a vital local public service”.

She added: “I can’t believe it, how on earth can they allow this to happen and treat elderly people like that? We can’t take away vital services, it’s not right.

“It’s safe enough for all these elderly people to walk up and down the road, and in my experience they deliver to some pretty remote places. Its health and safety gone mad.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We apologise to customers in the Severn View area of Pontypool for any inconvenience as a result of disruption to their mail service. We will conduct a further health and safety assessment of the area as soon as possible and notify customers of the outcome.”

“In the meantime, customers can continue to collect their mail from the local Post Office.”