Never fail to deliver

GETTING your favourite community newspaper to your doorstep has been quite a challenge in recent weeks for our army of dedicated delivery men on their marvellous two-wheeled machines.

During the height on the unrest Al Hilal Group's brave boys faced unprecedented obstacles. However, deliveries are back to normal and this week we would like to pay tribute to the team who deliver copies of GulfWeekly, the biggest-selling home-delivered newspaper on the island, to our thousands of readers every Wednesday.

Circulation manager Samuel Jacob said: "Things are getting back on track and we are now reverting to our old timings which were changed during recent tensions."

The newspaper delivery agents travel to different parts of the island from as early as 3am with the aim of finishing their rounds by 6.30am.

As well as GulfWeekly the team are on a daily trek delivering our sister newspapers the Gulf Daily News and Akhbar Al Khaleej, as well as other publications from the UK, the Gulf region and India.

Many have endured disturbing experiences in recent weeks. Velmurugan, 26, for example, only joined the team four months ago and on March 14 was confronted by five masked men brandishing iron rods and knives in Juffair. His bike was thrashed and newspapers tossed in the air before police stepped in.

M Gopal, 42, has been working with the company for 14 years and almost came unstuck at the Bahrain Financial Harbour during the height of the protests. He said: "I was stopped by protesters but managed to find a way around a blockade to deliver the papers on time. I don't like letting readers down."

Mr Jacob, 53, has been running the delivery department since 1993, took to the streets with office secretaries Jagadheesh Kumar Vasu, Olvy D'Souza and Jayakesavan to check out the challenges firsthand after receiving reports of the agents' motorcycles being attacked and papers stolen.

He said: "There was an incident near Geant but no-one was hurt, thankfully, although the bikes were damaged.

"We were then stopped by thugs wielding knives and iron rods and had to change the timings and restrict certain areas for a while.

"This is a 365-days-a-year job. Our customers need their daily paper every single day and look forward to GulfWeekly every Wednesday morning. Our staff's dedication has helped us to manage this crisis. When one falls another one steps in - teamwork has helped us grow strong."

One reader contacted this newspaper's news desk to say that she felt confident things were 'back on track' in Bahrain when her GulfWeekly arrived on time last week.