A former Leeds postman has lifted the lid on the disgusting racial abuse and threats of physical violence he received while on the job.
Troy Ricketts, 35, who grew up in Roundhay after moving from Jamaica, was regularly called a “black b******” and was asked to get in "fights". After six months of worrying he’d be attacked, Troy had enough of the racial abuse and hung up the red uniform for the final time in April.
The torment he "suffered" made him accelerate his dreams of opening his own Jamaican takeaway. He now runs Mama Cyndy's Authentic Jamaican Food in Chapeltown Road, Chapeltown.
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Troy wanted to work in his “environment”, surrounded by people who shared his own heritage after his troubling experience as a postman. Chapeltown has a high Jamaican and black population, the suburb recorded a 21 per cent black Afro-Caribbean population in the 2011 census.
Troy said: “I was a delivery driver for the Royal Mail for about six months. It didn’t work out, I suffered some racial abuse. It wasn’t really my environment. Customers would say, you black b****** and I was disrespected a fair bit.
"And going around Leeds, there’s just total aggression as if they wanted to fight, to be honest. I wouldn’t have let them beat me up and I’m not going to go to prison for a job that paid me pennies and my heart wasn’t in it.
“I stopped that last year in April. I couldn’t believe I did that long, to be honest. That’s why I wanted to do this, in this area [Chapeltown], around my own people and in my environment. The idea that someone could be at the counter, I don’t even have to interact with people if I don’t want to.”
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Grandma's recipe success
The father-of-three, 14, 11 and five, opened Mama Cyndy's in the following month and it has been a great success. The takeaway currently operates at the back of a grocery shop Chapeltown Stores but he plans to move to a new location soon.
The takeaway is named after his grandma who brought him up and taught him to cook when he was 13-years-old, allowing him to make his first meal on the day of his birthday. Years later he trained to become a professional chef at the former Leeds Thomas Danby College, after moving to Leeds when he was 17.
Troy prides himself on offering quirkier dishes on his menu, like jerk salmon, which he describes as “coming from the chef side of me”, whereas his grandma’s dishes inform the “home-cooked side” of the menu.
Speaking about the culture clash of coming to Leeds, Troy admits that at first he didn’t like it but has grown to love the city over time.
Troy said: “I didn’t like it at first but then I realised Leeds does have its perks. You get family life here, it’s more intimate, you get to know the Leeds people. You don’t get that in places like London, where I moved for a short time, I used to move about a lot.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of our staff are the highest priority for Royal Mail. We take all reports of abusive behaviour towards our colleagues very seriously, and will not tolerate racism of any sort.”
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