An experienced Chelmsford policeman has quit his rural beat and £25,000 a year career to become a £230 a week postman.

Pc Kevin Adams a 38-year-old father of two was told he was being compulsorily moved from Chelmsford Community Policing Unit, where he had special responsibility for Writtle village, to Grays.

The proposed move had brought protests from the parish council and, in a message read at its meeting on Monday, Mr Adams said: "I resigned from Essex Police last week. Unfortunately, they would not enter into any alternative solution other than to insist on my deployment to Grays.

"I have managed to get a six-month contract with Royal Mail as a delivery postman in Chelmsford - nothing too stressful and it should keep a roof over my head.

"It's a shame that just as I seemed to be progressing some of the village concerns, the carpet gets swept from under my feet."

Essex Police Federation said that county officers were increasingly moving to the Metropolitan Police, where they can earn at least £4,000 a year more.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "That is an individual's decision and privilege. We do have a policy that people are moved, and they are aware of that at the outset of their careers. Any good officer will be missed, but it is understandable that, for numerous reasons, people want a career change or change of location."

Published Friday August 16, 2002

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