Wot, no spare keys?

[#1]

A number of Royal Mail postboxes have been taped shut after the keys to them were "misplaced".

The 10 boxes on Canvey Island, in Essex, have been taken out of action while the firm awaits replacements.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-49362532

[#2]

@ffox I hope its not like a computer monitor at one firm I worked at years ago. The office it was in was closed down and monitor returned to head office. It had a key lock on it and was locked and key missing. It was an IBM monitor and they had to order a spare for it from Australia...the engineer decided to diable the lock....quicker.!!!!

[#3]

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@TTman wrote:

@ffox I..the engineer decided to diable the lock....quicker.!!!!

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It would probably have been quicker still to DISABLE the lock ! ! ! ... rather than having a diable with it ! ! !

[#4]

@shutter  You forget it was an australian lock

[#5]

@TTman    AH. So... it was fitted upside down then.... just like those american locks... ( YALE ) 

[#6]

@shutter WE  had to skip(py) using the lock

[#7]

Do post boxes have different keys for each one? 

Seems a bit daft if that is the case and as you say, no spares - which also seems a bit daft. I would have thought they would having something like a universal one. 

[#8]

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@Minivanman wrote:

I would have thought they would having something like a universal one. 

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And if that falls into the wrong hands the whole district's boxes are emptied.

[#9]

Well yes, fair point. 

[#10]

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@shutter wrote:

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@TTman wrote:

@ffox I..the engineer decided to diable the lock....quicker.!!!!

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It would probably have been quicker still to DISABLE the lock ! ! ! ... rather than having a diable with it ! ! !

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Dunno! Maybe the engineer was French, "La serrure est le diable à défaire, monsieur"

[#11]

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@198kHz wrote:

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@Minivanman wrote:

I would have thought they would having something like a universal one. 

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And if that falls into the wrong hands the whole district's boxes are emptied.

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The story I read was that because the keys couldn't be found, they had to order new locks and keys complete. Obvious really because if the old keys had been stolen it's open house and replacement keys on their own wouldn't really help.

[#12]

If I was a ne'er-do-well and found a bunch of post box keys would I really use them?

A chance to nefariously  open a postbox usually situated in open view in busy places. To take a sack of letters some place and spend ages opening them all in the hope to find......................

Now maybe if they were the keys to a parcel delivery van.

[#13]

When going to the local post box, my wife found the key left in it! She took it home and rang the local sorting office to tell them.

She was going into town in an hour or so and offered to drop it in to the sorting office. 'No Madam' they said, 'we will send someone for it NOW' . Very keen to get it back, a few minutes later a PO van turned up to collect it...

[#14]

@Luzern  I have to admit I had to use translate to find what you meant. You hit the nail on the head!!!

[#15]

Royal Mail could have whacked a length of chain and padlock around the susceptible post boxes pending the delivery of new locks.  Probably the same effort as suspending the collections to closing up the boxes, but doesn't interfere with the mail service.