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Faulty latch led to open letterboxes in Bedok, SingPost to work with town council on upkeep of letterboxes

Faulty latch led to open letterboxes in Bedok, SingPost to work with town council on upkeep of letterboxes
A resident noticed that the letterboxes at Block 621 Bedok Reservoir Road were open at around 5.30pm on Feb 8, 2019, when he went down to check his mail.
PHOTO: Twitter/Tanhuiyi

SINGAPORE - Several letterboxes were left open at Block 621 Bedok Reservoir Road for several hours on Feb 8 due to a faulty latch.

Mr Tan Chwee Thiam, 59, told The Straits Times that he noticed that the letterboxes were open around 5.30pm on Feb 8, when he went down to check his mail.

He heard several neighbours talking about the letterboxes being left open, and saw that one of the four sections of letterboxes at his block was open.

His unit was one of those that were affected, Mr Tan said. The photos that he took showed 18 units that were left exposed.

He tried calling the SingPost hotline but was unable to get through and asked his daughter to contact the postal service provider with the photos that he sent her.

"I went downstairs three or four times after that to check if the letterboxes had been fixed. At around 9.30pm, I saw one guy at the letterboxes, who explained that one of the screws was loose and that's why the main door couldn't be closed properly," Mr Tan said.

In response to queries on Monday, SingPost said that they were alerted to the incident at 8.20pm on Feb 8.

[embed]https://twitter.com/tanhuiyi/status/1093810219581202438[/embed]

An inspector was immediately sent to investigate and he arrived at the location at 9pm, SingPost said. He found that "there was a mechanical fault with the latching mechanism and made some temporary repairs to secure the masterdoor", SingPost added.

Another team has since been dispatched to fix the faulty latch.

"We will work with the town council on the upkeep of letterboxes," SingPost said.

Mr Tan's daughter, Ms Tan Hui Yi, 32, a stay-at-home mum, had posted the photos of the open letterboxes on Twitter and tweeted to SingPost at 5.54pm on Feb 8: "Hi, the postman didn't lock the letterboxes at Block 621 Bedok Reservoir Road.

"They are wide open and anyone can access the items in the respective letterboxes of residents."

SingPost responded to her tweet on Monday morning (Feb 11), saying: " Another resident has contacted us on this matter and our Inspector of Post immediately locked the Masterdoor securely."

The postal service provider added that she should contact their hotline at 1605 should she encounter the same problem in the future.

ST has contacted Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which manages the block, for more information.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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