EMPLOYEES' health and safety could be at risk if the York Crown Post Office moves from Lendal into WH Smith on Coney Street, York MP Rachael Maskell is claiming.

She plans to take up her concerns with the Post Office, the Royal Mail and the company that delivers cash to post offices.

The York Central MP also believes the new location will reduce the number of collections and deliveries that can be made to and from the post office as anti-terrorism measures are put in place.

"I have looked at issues of access to Coney Street and what will be required for Royal Mail to access the street," she said.

"It creates massive personal safety implications and there will be a high risk for staff.

"No-one has done a health and safety assessment, no-one has looked at the location. They have just said 'there is a back entrance.'"

She said to get to the back entrance, vans will have to drive along Coney Street, which is a busy pedestrianised shopping street for much of the day, and down a very narrow alleyway before turning into a collection and delivery cage towards the rear of the building.

The range of buildings housing WH Smith's backs directly onto the River Ouse.

She said the access alley is very tight and the driver will have to perform 10 to 12 manoeuvres to get to the delivery point.

It is badly lit and obscured from Coney Street, so employees, who would have to handle high value items such as cash and passports, would be vulnerable to attack from robbers and thieves, she said.

The MP also said that proposed anti-terrorism measures could limit the times when vans could use Coney Street. Currently, she said, delivery and collection vans make five trips a day.