Royal Mail’s non-deliveries continue to hit Croydon residents

Inside Croydon readers in the CR0 postcode and beyond have continued to report poor-to-non-existent service from Royal Mail over their post deliveries.

Although in one, isolated instance, there’s also been a suggestion of a return to a “normal”, daily delivery.

Inside Croydon has reported the struggles at the Factory Lane sorting depot to get posties out and delivering often vital items, including urgent notifications of NHS hospital appointments.

Severe staff shortages at the CR0 sorting depot follow the long-running industrial dispute, as Royal Mail staff have left their jobs en masse, leaving the office badly under-staffed.

Royal Mail has a legal responsibility to maintain once-a-day deliveries, but in Croydon for the past few months, it has been struggling to ensure reliable deliveries even once a week, something that Royal Mail has officially denied is the case.

“Last couple of weeks in CR0 have been dreadful and [deliveries] have been down to once a week,” according to one ill-served reader.

“I have had to ask the hospital not to send me letters re appointments for the treatment I’m having as I don’t think I’ll get them in time.”

Another reader also complained of missing GP appointments due to the lack of post deliveries. “We live on Morland Avenue in Croydon and we haven’t seen postman for weeks. What is going on?” they ask.

Another emailed us to say: “We have not received any post from Royal Mail for more than eight days. Items we are expecting like bills and hospital appointments we know have been sent out are not arriving.”

One reader said that they had no mail delivered for three weeks. “It’s ridiculous waiting for lots of bits and getting nothing at all.

“I contacted Royal Mail and received a standard email apologising and to check out their latest online list of disruptions, none of which included the CR0 postcode.”

A couple returned from a 10-day annual holiday at the end of September to discover no post whatsoever. “We usually have several items a day, but some weekly publications are at least a week behind, and some are now two weeks in arrears.”

One reader, who lives in a flat on Fairfield Road, said that they had logged two separate complaints with Royal Mail. “The impact of these delivery shortfalls extends beyond mere inconvenience. I have been awaiting a crucial bank card via post, the delay of which has caused me significant distress and anxiety.”

But one reader did contact us with a slither of good news.

“Our deliveries had pretty much stopped altogether, with all the inconvenience and extra costs that involved – I was without a travel card for two weeks and had to pay my fares to and from work as a result.”

During September, the reader – another CR0 resident – had lodged two complaints with Royal Mail, having to wait on the phone for almost an hour on each occasion.

“We had had only one delivery in three weeks. It had been my wife’s birthday the previous weekend. And then, last Wednesday, we got a bumper delivery of post, including a dozen birthday cards, all three days after the event. Plus subscription magazines, the long-awaited travel card, and all sorts of things.

“With the exception of Sunday, we’ve now had a post delivery every day for five days in succession. It’s almost as if we are getting a normal service again. So it is possible.”

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

• Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content

• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SIXTH successive year in 2022 in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine