Villagers in Ash complain over ‘sporadic’ postal service

Villagers in Kent say they are angry about their “sporadic” postal service after going three weeks without deliveries.

Residents in Ash, near Canterbury, say they have seen mail repeatedly delivered to the wrong address and have often gone long periods with no post.

One resident said her bank account was temporarily blocked as her post was returned marked ‘address does not exist’, while another had medication arrive so late he said the ice pack keeping it cool had melted.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail, which apologised in December for delays in the South East, said the delivery office was “clear of all post for the Ash area”, but said that sickness had had “an impact on deliveries in the village”.

“We have a plan in place to manage any delays, with deliveries to every address at least every other day,” added the spokesperson.

Gary Westwick who lives on Chequer Lane, said his wife had to wait three weeks for her “very important” Blue Badge and that the postal service was “sporadic”.

“The Royal Mail need to sort it out,” he added.

Simon Sperrin said he has a long-running complaint with Royal Mail after a birthday present for his son was delivered to an address on the other side of the village.

“I only found out where it had gone because someone had posted a picture of it on the local Facebook page,” he said.

“The service is poor, there’s gathered deliveries of probably half a dozen or more letters which all come at once about once a week if you’re lucky.

“It was so late we recently that we received the Christmas cards and thank you letters for presents from my niece and nephew within a day of each other.”

Julie Dickson, who lives in Holness Road, said she had her bank account frozen in September as a relief postal worker couldn’t find her home and returned a letter marked ‘address does not exist’.

“I was in a supermarket trying to pay for my shopping but my cards wouldn’t work,” she said. “I called my bank and they had locked my account as they thought fraud was going on. It was very inconvenient and embarrassing.”

Gardener Philip Oostenbrink, from Woods Ley, runs a plant business from home and now drives outside the area to post products to customers to ensure they arrive on time.

“I’m not sure if the plants are ever going to leave the sorting office in Canterbury so I tend to avoid using them,” he said.

“I was sent medication on 24-hour delivery and it didn’t arrive for another three days after.

“The ice pack in there to keep everything cool had already melted and you do wonder if everything is still alright in there.”