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SCOTS have been warned that they are facing huge delivery delays after Royal Mail revealed it is dealing with high levels of sickness.
The post delivery service has reported disruption at mail centres and offices across the UK.
The national postal service insisted that the delays only affect a small number of offices, concentrated mostly in the West Midlands.
But it has sparked fury from residents after impacting more than 60 areas across the UK.
Locals in the affacted areas have reported having little to no post delivered since Christmas.
Bosses at Royal Mail have now said that the issues are linked to staffing shortages and high levels of sickness.
However, they have stressed that action is currently being taken to restore services.
Royal Mail released a statement which said: “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 high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.
“In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.
“We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. We will regularly update customers on the offices most impacted.”
Most of the impacted areas are south of the border, however, those covered by Johnstone and Uddingston delivery offices are also affected.
This includes anyone with postcodes starting with PA5, PA6, PA9, PA10, PA12, and G71.
Royal Mail’s hefty fine for failing to meet delivery targets
THE post service was issued a £21 million fine by Ofcom in October last year for missing its delivery targets for the financial year.
The postal service only delivered 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time in the 2024/25 financial year.
Both of these percentages fell well short of its 93% and 98.5% targets.
The communications watchdog has now said Royal Mail must urgently deliver a credible improvement plan or the fines are likely to continue.
It’s the third time Royal Mail has been found in breach of its regulatory obligations in recent years.
The postal service was fined £5.6million in November 2023 and £10.5million in December 2024.
Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.
“These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.”
Ofcom said the fine reflected the “harm suffered by customers” because of Royal Mail’s poor service.
The fine followed Royal Mail’s attempt to huge shake-up its service and open thousands of shops across the UK for the first time.
Around 8,000 Collect+ convenience stores will be rebranded to Royal Mail shops.
The postal issues have now been raised at Parliament by Telford MP Shaun Davies.
He told fellow MPs in the House of Commons: “Posties have contacted me privately to tell me that they have been ordered not to deliver post and to prioritise parcels.”
It comes after Scots experienced a wave of delays in the run-up to Christmas last year.
At the end of November, this was put down to high levels of sickness, absences or resourcing, as well as vehicle breakdowns.
Nine areas in Scotland were hit with excessive delays, including Aboyne, Altens, Bridge of Don, Erskine, Glenrothes, Inverclyde, Kilwinning, Lochgelly, and Uddingston.
Back in 2022 and 2023, industrial action by postal workers caused widespread delays across the UK.
The shift towards parcels, driven by online shopping, has also put extra strain on delivery offices and staff.
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