LATE collections from about 250 postboxes across Croydon are to be scrapped as part of Royal Mail "efficiency measures".
Notices were placed on the boxes last week informing the public that post would only be collected from them once a day, at 9am on weekdays and 7am on weekends, from September 19.
Some residents have reacted angrily to the notices, which they say would leave people unable to reply to urgent post the same day, and leave the elderly and disabled worse off.
Charles King, chairman of East Coulsdon Residents' Association, noticed boxes across the south of the borough had the notices attached last week.
He said the proposals would leave parts of the borough "cut off" and was dismayed at the cuts shortly after the privatisation of the service.
"We're in Greater London, not the Outer Hebrides. What happened to this commitment to keep a first class postal service?" he said.
"I think the next thing is they'll be saying in a year's time 'those boxes are hardly used so we're going to take them away'.
"This is the first step towards that.
"Around 20 per cent of people don't have access to the internet and it's difficult for the elderly and disabled to get to another box further away.
"If they just said there's going to be one collection in the evening, say at 6pm, that might be ok as it would give you time to reply, but to only have one in the morning makes it impossible."
A spokesman for Royal Mail confirmed the boxes will move to the "collection on delivery" arrangements – where the postman delivering mail also collects from boxes – because a "significant decline" in the number of letters posted means the boxes no longer cover their costs.
He said: "We would like to reassure all our customers that we will retain a high level of access to late collection posting facilities (4pm or later). Clear signposting will be provided for customers on the relevant postboxes indicating where their nearest late posting box is.
"Existing postboxes further than half-a-mile from a late posting facility are not included as part of these changes. In Croydon, around 250 post boxes will move to the new collection on delivery arrangement across the CR0 to CR8 postcode sectors."
