Mail chiefs warn of covid delivery backlog due to staff being off work with the virus

Renfrewshire residents are set to be hit by mail delays as covid takes its toll.

Homes in Erskine and areas of Paisley are set to be hit by postal disruption as Royal Mail bosses say deliveries have been hit by staff absences.

They warn that rising numbers of workers being forced to self-isolate and high numbers of sick employees are affecting rounds as organisations across the board are hit by shortages fuelled by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

We told on Thursday how irate Paisley residents complained of waiting up to three weeks for mail to be delivered.

Some reported even missing hospital appointments as letters ot snarled up in the postal backlog.

Residents all over Paisley, including Glenburn, Linwood and Ferguslie, were hit as residents complaining of Christmas cards arriving three weeks late and receiving up to 20 delayed letters in one mail drop.

Many resorted to attending at the town’s Underwood Road delivery office themselves in a bid to uplift their undelivered correspondence.

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One 77-year-old retired Royal Mail worker claimed postal staff were being ordered to focus on parcel deliveries leaving letters “piling up” at the sorting office.

The former manager, who lives in the town’s Falside Avenue said: “It’s just not good enough. People are missing out on important documents and information they have a right to be receiving regularly.

“People are entitled to have their mail delivered. We are going two weeks or more here with not a single letter. We just aren’t getting any
deliveries. We got one on January 7 and those were the first letters we had received since Christmas Eve.”

Royal Mail had claimed the “vast majority” of deliveries in the area were on time but bosses have now admitted 56 delivery officers across the UK are behind.

They admitted Covid had hit services but also blamed “resourcing or other local factors” for service upheaval.

Royal Mail chiefs say the resulting disruption may mean it cannot deliver six days a week to certain postcode areas, which include Erskine’s PA7 and PA8, as well as the PA1, PA2 and PA3 areas of Paisley – set to include Paisley South and Castlehead and Paisley north west and Linwood.

The deliver giant had earlier warned of delays at 22 office in December – which national reports this week claim some customers are still receiving delayed Christmas cards.

Royal Mail reported pre-tax profits of £315 million in the six months until the end of September, despite struggling to deliver post.
A statement on the Royal Mail website assures: “Deliveries are operating as normal across most of the country today. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.

“In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as COVID-related self isolation, high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.”It adds: “In those cases we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”

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