POSTAL workers have put pen to paper to complain about animal lovers who allow their pets to urinate on mail boxes.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail's Blackburn collections team complained after delivery staff became sick of the stench on letters they handled.

And an open letter to the Evening Telegraph from Canterbury Street staff reads: "Don't make us work in something you wouldn't!"

It says postmen and women are sick of opening post boxes and being overwhelmed by the smell.

It adds: "What people fail to realise is that after their dog has urinated on the post box, we have to come along and open it to take out the letters. "Sometimes the mail bags get wet with urine which means that letters get wet with urine.

"Stale dog urine is one of the foulest smells we ever come across. When you are walking your dog, spare a thought for us."

A Royal Mail spokesperson said it took the welfare of staff and condition of customers' mail very seriously .

She added: "However, this is a local problem and does not happen on a large scale.

"When there are incidents of this kind, we ask our postmen and women to report the matter to their manager who will make arrangements for the box to be cleaned appropriately."

The spokesman said that Royal Mail did not have a problem with liquid entering post boxes and they believed the letter related to urine on the pavement.

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