Royal Mail confirm areas of Derry affected by delivery service withdrawal

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 21st January 2019.

PSNI officers deal with two security alerts in Creggan (Southway and Circular Road, Derry.

Photo by Lorcan Doherty / Press Eye. — Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 21st January 2019. PSNI officers deal with two security alerts in Creggan (Southway and Circular Road, Derry. Photo by Lorcan Doherty / Press Eye.

A red Royal Mail postal van was targeted yesterday afternoon and the driver told by an armed gang to abandon the vehicle at Lonemoor Road.

A security operation on Southway saw the road closed and residents at Iona Terrace evacuated for a time.

The incident was one of the three confirmed hoaxes yesterday, the others at Circular Road and Northland Road.

There was also an attempt by masked youths to hijack an Ulsterbus on Moss Road in the Galliagh area of the city, which resulted in services being withdrawn for a short time.

A Housing Executive spokesperson meanwhile confirmed that maintenance services have been withdrawn from some areas after a vehicle belonging to one of its contractors was targeted yesterday.

A spokesperson said: “On the advice of PSNI, we are not delivering mail in some areas of Londonderry/Derry today. These are Creggan, Shantallow, Pennyburn, Ballyarnett.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers. Mail can be picked up from the delivery office, which is open until 6.30 pm.

“Any customer who is worried about mail deliveries can contact our customer services on 03457 740 740. We expected mail collections to be as normal today and we hope to return to our normal delivery service as soon as possible.”