Royal Mail blames poor climate and illness for delayed deliveries | EUROtoday

Royal Mail has warned of potential service delays throughout greater than 100 UK postcodes, citing latest storms and elevated employees illness as the reason for disruption.

The announcement follows a interval of mounting complaints concerning delayed mail, with issues additionally raised that parcels are being prioritised over letters.

On Monday, the postal agency recognized 38 supply places of work throughout the nation, overlaying roughly 100 postcodes, as these most probably to expertise slower service.

A spokesperson for the corporate defined 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.”

Royal Mail sought to reassure prospects, stating: “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 added that it could deploy additional help to affected routes to “restore deliveries as quickly as possible.”

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Meanwhile, a report by the BBC uncovered situations the place some letters had been reportedly held in supply places of work for weeks, main people to overlook pressing communications corresponding to appointment notices and financial institution statements.

Citing nameless postal staff, the report stated that parcels had been being prioritised over letters in some depots, even when they’re top quality, whereas employees shortages had been extra broadly impacting the service.

It is known that Royal Mail will decide to clear parcels first in the event that they construct up rapidly and block walkways in supply places of work.

The firm has stated it’s delivering extra parcels as on-line buying continues to develop, whereas the variety of addressed letters going by means of its community is falling.

Royal Mail serves almost two million postcodes and is required to ship mail six days per week, and goals to ship each letters and parcels on time.

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Regulator Ofcom final yr gave the go-ahead for Royal Mail to scrap second class letter deliveries on Saturdays and alter the service to each different weekday.

It launched the modifications throughout 35 supply places of work as a pilot, however has but to develop this nationwide throughout all 1,200 websites resulting from failing to achieve settlement with the employees union.

It is in the course of a month-long dispute decision course of with the Communication Workers Union with the intention of reaching an settlement over how the workforce can be impacted by the overhaul.