Royal Mail invited to public meeting by Anna Dixon MP

Anna Dixon, Labour MP for Shipley, has written to Royal Mail, urging company representatives to attend a public meeting in her constituency.

Shipley MP Anna Dixon has hit out at Royal Mail after ‘unacceptable’ disruptions to postal deliveries (Image: UGC)

In her letter, the MP highlighted that constituents experienced “intermittent or no delivery of their post since Christmas”.

She said this resulted in missed hospital appointments, difficulties in travel, and fines for late bill payments.

Royal Mail vans parked at the sorting office on Inkersley Road in Bradford (Image: Newsquest) Ms Dixon reported being contacted by nearly 100 constituents affected across Baildon, Eldwick, Shipley, and Bingley.

As previously reported by the Telegraph & Argus, the issues also prompted complaints from across the wider Bradford district.

Royal Mail said its staff worked “exceptionally hard” to get deliveries back on track after bad weather at the start of January and deliveries are now running “as normal”. 

But the MP would like a public meeting so Royal Mail can “understand the concerns of residents and provide assurance that steps are being taken to address the current problem and prevent it from occurring in the future”.

Ms Dixon said: “It is not good enough that hundreds of residents of the Shipley constituency have been left completely cut off from postal deliveries for weeks.

“I have heard from dozens of local residents, including many elderly individuals, who have been unable to receive letters about key hospital appointments and make payments on bills.

“I have been in regular correspondence with Royal Mail since this problem became apparent, and while I appreciate they provided assurance they were working hard to resolve the issues – I was frustrated that they were unable to give a specific timeline for when my constituents could expect services to return to normal.

“I think the people of the Shipley constituency deserve the opportunity to be able to share the impact this disruption has had on them with Royal Mail and to hear, in person, what steps they are taking to ensure this does not happen again in the future.”

When these concerns were put to Royal Mail, a spokesperson said: “Our colleagues have worked exceptionally hard to ensure the delivery of all items that were delayed due to the very poor weather earlier in January.

“This accounts for many thousands of items which could not be delivered to homes due to compacted snow and black ice which created challenging and sometimes dangerous conditions for our posties.

“We completed all of these deliveries by the end of January.

“Deliveries throughout Bradford are currently operating as normal and we are delivering to all routes.

“We thank customers for their patience and understanding during a period of exceptionally adverse weather.”

When asked by the Telegraph & Argus, Royal Mail did not indicate whether any representatives would attend a public meeting.