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Cllr Sarah Murray said some households receive only one delivery a week in Warndon Villages in Worcester (WR4 postcode) with important letters arriving days – and sometimes over a week – late.
However, a Royal Mail spokesperson said they continue to work hard to deliver a reliable service and ‘the vast majority of mail continues to be delivered on time’.
Cllr Murray, a Liberal Democrat councillor for St Nicholas Ward, has been contacted by a growing number of residents from Warndon Villages who say hospital appointment letters, test results and financial documents are turning up long after they were sent, often in a single bundle of 10 or more items.
One resident, Sharon Ballett, who lives near Purleigh Avenue in Warndon Villages, Worcester told Cllr Murray: “We’re literally getting one delivery a week. When the post finally comes, it’s a big bundle – ten or more letters at a time. By then, some of it is already out of date.”
In the last two months alone, the household has seen two separate medical letters arrive later than they should have – one an urgent test result for her, another a blood test result for her husband.
“When you’re waiting on test results, every day feels long. Knowing the letter had been sitting somewhere for days before it reached us is incredibly stressful. You can’t help but wonder what would happen if it was something more serious, or if we’d needed to act quickly.”
The couple have also been affected financially after both of their bank cards were compromised and had to be cancelled. They were left waiting nearly two weeks for replacements to turn up.
Cllr Murray said the situation is “completely unacceptable” and has pledged to take the issue up with Royal Mail and national decision-makers.
Cllr Sarah Murray said: “When hospital letters, test results or replacement bank cards arrive days late, it’s not just inconvenient – it can affect people’s health, finances and peace of mind.
“Residents are telling me that deliveries appear to have been reduced to a single weekly drop, with a week’s worth of letters arriving in one go. That is simply not good enough for a basic public service that so many people rely on, especially older and more vulnerable residents who depend on written correspondence.
“I’ll be raising this directly with Royal Mail management, and I’ll be asking for clear answers: why has the service deteriorated so badly in Warndon Villages, and what are they going to do to put it right?”
Cllr Murray has created a template letter for residents to send to local MP Tom Collins about the issue.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our teams continue to work hard to deliver a reliable and consistent service in Warndon Villages and across WR4.
“The vast majority of mail continues to be delivered on time, and where an item is delayed we prioritise it to keep any delay to a minimum.
“We apologise for any instances where this has happened and want to reassure residents that we remain fully committed to delivering six days a week, delivering to homes whenever there is mail to deliver.”
