Esther McVey MP got a first class experience recently when she joined a local postie on his delivery round in Wilmslow.
The Tatton MP was invited to accompany Gareth Trimble, who has been delivering mail for 30 years, to see for herself the challenges they face delivering letters and parcels in all weathers six days a week.
Ms McVey said: "Postmen and postwomen perform an incredibly important role in our communities across my constituency, not just delivering letters and parcels, but also for being part of an organisation that plays such a key role in keeping the UK connected.
"I wanted to get a real understanding of the work that goes into delivering the mail on a daily basis. There can be no better way of getting that insight than actually going out and doing the job alongside a postman or woman. I joined local postie Gareth Trimble who has been delivering mail for 30 years."
Darren Taylor Royal Mail Delivery Manager at Wilmslow Delivery Office who briefed Esther before she set off on his delivery round said: "We're delighted that Esther McVey MP is taking the time to experience the every day challenges faced by our postmen and postwomen who are so often at the heart of their communities."
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Residents of Hawthorn Grove battle daily with the sort of parking you can see in the photo and much, much worse.
Bin collections are regularly disrupted as the lorries can not get past Royal Mail vans and customers vehicles. This also means that fire trucks will also struggle. The junction of Hawthorn Lane is a blind corner and drivers have to exit dangerously on the wrong side of the road every day.
Wardens refuse to ticket RM vans and customers rarely get tickets as they are not there long enough. The yellow lines are completely worn out.
RM vans use Hawthorn Grove as a commercial car park and loading area.They wake residents up at 5am slamming doors outside homes (they could park on Hawthorn Lane at this time but don’t). RM has extended its opening hours and so the problems extend too.
Dungeon Walk is regularly completely blocked and as there are still no parking restrictions, nothing is done. Residents have made dozens and dozens of complaints for many years to the council and councillors but either nothing happens or they are completely ignored.
Residents are at their wits end and will be rightly furious that Esther came to this road and completely ignored the major parking problems that make such an impact on residents lives.
So we learn Esther is prepared to find out what it is like to be a manual working class worker for the day as long as it’s not raining (told she cancelled previously over rain), a camera crew is there and the ‘day’ finishes before brunch.
This could be addresses by changing the collection time but that would only solve the bins collection issue. What if this were an emergency and a fire truck or ambulance could not attend?
This is a very real concern for residents. The council, councillors, police, Royal Mail and the PCSOs know all about it. Practically every resident has contacted them on numerous occasions.
Plus least three residents collared McVey when she was playing at being fair weather working class sorry ‘blue collar’ for the cameras for an hour.