--- title: British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Over Scary Cat description: The Royal Mail informed the couple that Bella the cat endangers fingers. canonical: https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-28T14:15:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:56.041Z og:title: British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Because Their Cat Scares the Postman og:description: The Royal Mail informed the couple that Bella the cat endangers fingers. og:url: https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff354c3dbf2f7dec/698891038e060147e6465a24/royal-mail-couple-mailbox-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: royal mail couple mailbox cat og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Because Their Cat Scares the Postman twitter:description: The Royal Mail informed the couple that Bella the cat endangers fingers. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff354c3dbf2f7dec/698891038e060147e6465a24/royal-mail-couple-mailbox-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Because Their Cat Scares the Postman  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Apr 28, 2016 2:15 PM UTC  This is an alarming stock photo, not Bella the cat. This is an alarming stock photo, not Bella the cat.Noel Baebler—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Apr 28, 2016 2:15 PM UTC Rain, snow, sleet and hail aren’t supposed to deter postal workers from delivering the mail — but it seems one feisty cat is enough to bring the system crashing to a halt. The Royal Mail service in England [informed a couple by letter](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-36157538) that their cat, Bella, was disrupting mail delivery to their letter slot. The couple has to remove the cat or get an external mailbox, with the threat of mail suspension if nothing is done, the BBC reports. “Your postman has reported that when he pushes the mail through your letterbox your cat snatches the mail and puts his fingers at risk of injury,” the letter states. One of the mail recipients, Matthew Sampson, said he believes Bella was playing a game with the postman. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-36157538)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/"},"headline":"British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Because Their Cat Scares the Postman","datePublished":"2016-04-28T14:15:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:56.041Z","description":"The Royal Mail informed the couple that Bella the cat endangers the postman's fingers","url":"https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff354c3dbf2f7dec/698891038e060147e6465a24/royal-mail-couple-mailbox-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff354c3dbf2f7dec/698891038e060147e6465a24/royal-mail-couple-mailbox-cat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"royal mail couple mailbox cat","caption":"royal mail couple mailbox cat","creditText":"Noel Baebler—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4310843/mail-england-cat-danger-fingers/","name":"British Couple Faces Mail Suspension Because Their Cat Scares the Postman"}}]}] ```