A YORK city councillor wants answers after claiming Royal Mail changed the times of last collections from post boxes in his neighbourhood without notifying people.

Post boxes around the residential streets of Clifton Moor, which used to have a last collection at 6pm, are now cleared at 4pm,while the Saturday collection has been brought forward from 11am to 8am.

Conservative councillor Peter Dew, who represents Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, spotted the changes and said was unhappy to see them introduced without any warning to people in the area.

He said: "I can understand why the Royal Mail may want to make its service more efficient, but not everybody uses e-mail – there are plenty of reasons for residents to post mail and this sudden change should not have been made without notice.

"Simply changing the plate on the box is not good enough."

Even though information on the boxes has been updated to reflect the new earlier collection times, the details are misleading and unhelpful for people who might have missed the last post, he added.

Cllr Dew said: "The plate on the post boxes refers to a later collection at the sorting office in Leeman Road, which is more than two miles away, but omits to mention that nearby post boxes at Tesco and on Kettlestring Lane – both within half a mile - still have later collections."

He went on to say he does not dispute the Royal Mail needed to reduce the number of late collections, as the amount people use the postal system changes, people in the area ought to have been given better information.

He said: "When I was a school sixth former, I worked as a Christmas Casual sorter at Leeman Road. The last collection from post boxes was 8pm, and the last of all from Leeman Road sorting office was at 11.45pm.

"Of course, there was no email in those days so the volume of posted mail was huge, and I realise that fewer letters are being posted now. However, my complaint is about the lack of notice and the misleading information about alternative collection points."

A Royal Mail spokesman, said: “We would like to reassure all our customers in York that we will retain a high level of access to late collection posting facilities (4pm or later).

"Instead of taking the step to decommission uneconomic postboxes which hold low levels of mail of a daily basis, Royal Mail has introduced changes to its collections arrangements announced in 2014. In this case, we will be further investigating the complaint from the customer.”