Letterboxes are not often considered to be very dangerous, but one letter box in particular has got the Royal Mail up in claws.
A letter box in Portsmouth has come close to being taken off the Royal Mail’s mailing list after a post man had his and scratched when delivering mail through the letter box.
To ensure all letters are delivered, the postmen are boycotting using the letter box and are knocking on the front door to hand the mail to the family instead.
The cat’s owner, Carl White was shocked his cat, Lana had scratched the postman as the normally very gentle cat was probably just playing he claims.
Speaking to The Telegraph the 36 year old cleaner said: “Our letterbox is about six inches off the ground on the front door and our cat often likes to sit behind it.
“The postman had put the letter through the door and for some reason Lana scratched his hand- she wasn’t being vicious, I think she was being playful.”
A few weeks after the incident, the family received a letter from the Royal Mail which stated that if they did not keep the cat away from the door, postal deliveries to their address would need to be suspended.
Now, letters need to be handed over to Carl and his wife, Carol in order to comply with Royal Mail’s requests to protect their staff from “animal attacks.”
Also speaking to The Telegraph, a spokesperson for the Royal Mail confirmed that the company’s frontline staff face up to 5,000 attacks from animals and pets every year.
He said: “Royal Mail takes very seriously the safety of its employees, particularly our frontline staff who deliver the mail.”
Lana is also known as Lana Banana by the couple’s children. They also have another cat called Layla.