Royal Mail has blamed recent weather and ongoing staff sickness
Royal Mail has warned over potential service delays across more than 100 UK postcodes as storms and workers being off sick cause disruption. It comes as the postal firm faces complaints of delayed mail and parcels being prioritised over letters.
Royal Mail listed 38 delivery offices in the UK on Monday, covering around 100 postcodes, that may be most affected by a slower service. A spokesman for the company said that “adverse weather, including storms Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra in January, alongside higher-than-usual sick absence, has caused some short-term disruption to certain routes”.
“We want to reassure customers that the vast majority of mail is delivered as planned and understand how frustrating it is when post does not arrive as expected,” the firm said. It added that, where delays do affect a route, it will move to bring in extra support to “restore deliveries as quickly as possible”.
Meanwhile, a report by the BBC found that some letters were being held in delivery offices for weeks, leaving people to miss urgent mail such as appointment notices and bank statements. Citing anonymous postal workers, the report said that parcels were being prioritised over letters in some depots, even if they are first class, while staff shortages were more broadly impacting the service.
It is understood that Royal Mail will opt to clear parcels first if they build up quickly and block walkways in delivery offices. The company has said it is delivering more parcels as online shopping continues to grow, while the number of addressed letters going through its network is falling.
Royal Mail serves nearly two million postcodes and is required to deliver mail six days a week, and aims to deliver both letters and parcels on time. Regulator Ofcom last year gave the go-ahead for Royal Mail to scrap second class letter deliveries on Saturdays and change the service to every other weekday.
It launched the changes across 35 delivery offices as a pilot, but has yet to expand this nationwide across all 1,200 sites due to failing to reach agreement with the staff union. It is in the middle of a month-long dispute resolution process with the Communication Workers Union with the aim of reaching an agreement over how the workforce will be impacted by the overhaul.
The offices most affected are:
- Aberdare DO (CF44, CF45)
- Ashington DO (NE22, NE62, NE63, NE64)
- Banbridge DO (BT32)
- Beverley DO (HU11, HU17, HU18)
- Brechin DO (DD9)
- Brierley Hill DO (DY5)
- Chichester DO (PO18 – PO20)
- Chipping Norton DO (OX7)
- Daventry DO (NN11)
- Glasgow G15 DO (G15)
- Glasgow G52 DO (G52, G53)
- Helston DO (TR12, TR13)
- Hull Central DO (HU1-HU3, HU5, HU9, HU12, HU19)
- Hyde DO (SK13, SK14, SK16)
- Kingswood DO (BS15, BS30)
- Kirkcaldy DO (KY1 – KY3)
- Leicester East DO (LE2, LE5-LE7)
- Lichfield DO (WS7, WS13, WS14)
- Lisburn DO (BT26-BT28)
- Lochgelly DO (KY5)
- Lutterworth DO (LE9, LE17)
- Maida Hill DO (W9)
- North Tyneside DO (NE25-NE30)
- Oxford East DO (OX3, OX4, OX33, OX44, OX49)
- Penarth DO (CF64)
- Pendle DO (BB8, BB9)
- Pontefract DO (WF7, WF8, WF9, WF11)
- Pontyclun DO (CF72)
- Prenton DO (CH43)
- Shrewsbury DO (SY1-SY5)
- Sileby SPDO (LE12)
- Sleaford DO (NG34)
- South Shields DO (NE33, NE34)
- Sunderland DO (SR1-SR6, SR9)
- Swan House DO (LE1, LE3, LE7-LE9, LE19, LE95)
- Swindon DO (SN1, SN2, SN3, SN6, SN25, SN26, SN38, SN99)
- Waterlooville DO (PO7-PO8)
- Whitwood DO (WF6, WF10)
