Residents living in a quiet cul-de-sac were left enraged after an 8ft-tall, bright green parcel locker was suddenly ‘plonked’ right outside their doors.
Homeowners on Arne Road in Walsgrave, Coventry, were ‘up in arms’ about the unwelcome arrival on April 10. Their fervent opposition successfully persuaded the company to remove the container.
The battery-run, solar-powered delivery point is owned by Yeep!, a specialist in parcel lockers, and has been placed half a mile from the nearest shop.
Locals claim they were initially told a concrete base had been installed for a new salt box, and were outraged to then spot the ‘eyesore’ box just yards from their living rooms.
They also say they haven’t seen the parcel lockers used once since it was installed on their doorsteps.
Lynda Congrave, 79, has lived on the street for 40 years and says the locker poses risks to local kids.
Ms Congrave said: ‘I can’t believe it’s right outside my living room window. It’s disgusting.
‘I used to be able to check in on my friend across the road by looking through her front room – now I can’t see past this block.
‘It blocks my view from this window, and I’m all concerned about the young children who play around here.
‘We have no problem with them, but if cars are going to come speeding down to drop parcels in there, they’re only young kids.
‘They might run out, and there could be somebody run over. We don’t want that risk here.’
John and Suzanna Davies, who live just a few doors down from where the locker was pitched, believe it is still yet to be used even once.
John, 77, said: ‘Everybody is up in arms about it, all the residents.
‘It’s on the lawn that’s tended by the residents themselves. All the gardens are kept prim and proper around here, and we take pride in the area.
‘There were small parcels of land when the estate was built, and a company had the rights to them. They put them up for sale, and people bought them up.
‘A chap in Kenilworth bought this land. A couple of months ago, he was around scratching in the soil. When asked what he was doing, he said the council asked him to do it as they were putting a salt box there.
‘We all thought that was a tremendous idea. We always need salt boxes.
‘They put a concrete base in, but then this great big box appeared. He’s completely pulled the wool over our eyes so he could drop it in there without us knowing or getting in his way.
‘Nobody can understand it all, it’s not next to a supermarket. It’s not like people can easily come and go to pick up and drop off parcels. It’s in front of someone’s home, blocking their front window and getting in the way.
‘It’s in a residential area, there’s been no planning permission for it. It was chucked up around two weeks ago, but we don’t know who intends to use it.
‘We’ve not seen any use of it in that time either. There’s a bingo hall around half a mile away with a supermarket, and they have plenty of lockboxes there. So why do we need this one here, with nothing around it?
‘The council came out the next day and said they’d do the best to get it moved.’
Coventry City Council confirmed that the installation is under investigation to determine whether it was erected illegally.
A spokesman for the council said: ‘Nothing further to say at this stage, the matter is under investigation and officers have contacted the landowner and locker company.’
Jamie Dickinson, CEO, YEEP, said: ‘YEEP! would like to apologise unreservedly to the residents of Arne Road in Walsgrave, Coventry.
‘We have investigated the circumstances surrounding the installation of the locker.
‘We acknowledge that the location was wholly unsuitable and have taken immediate action to deactivate and remove the locker.
‘We have also reviewed our internal procedures and are implementing strengthened controls and additional improvements to prevent a similar experience occurring.’
This was a ludicrous place for this parcel locker, and the company need to remove it immediately.
Sadly, these will be our modern-day post boxes. The ones we see now will be a thing of the past, like our telephone boxes. Clearly, the location was not suitable, but perhaps it was placed there because the nearby residents sent or received a considerable amount of parcels, but let’s face it, they are a complete eyesore, and it could have been put in a more discreet location.
Give it a week, and it will be vandalised and clad in graffiti, and every dog will have marked their territory there, and it’s amazing how fast the planning department jumps on you if your extension is 1 foot larger than it should be, yet this monstrosity can be placed with no questions asked.
Coventry City Council confirmed that the installation is under investigation. What is there to investigate? It would be a brief review of the records that would tell them one way or the other if they had clearance to put it there, but it seems it takes multiple brain cells to do this! Come on, Coventry City Council – chop chop.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 