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In June Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie wrote to the Royal Mail to express her widespread conerns about the poor frequency of postal deliveries across the town and wider district.
These issues are now being raised again by residents and local figures following months of further frustrations as important documents such as medicine, hospital appointments and bank cards are arriving late to residents and business across the area.
Vicky Versaci, a King’s Stanley resident, said: “Several months ago I had to go five days without my medication as it was so late arriving.
“I had dreadful withdrawal symptoms.
“Anyone who gets their medication through the post runs the risk of running out.
“I’ve missed medical appointments too as the letters have arrived after the appointment time.
“I had a client say that her new bank card (which we are all very reliant on) has taken longer than ten days to reach her.”
Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie said that she will now be writing to Royal Mail once more as the current situation is ‘not good enough’.
She said: “Disruption to deliveries continues to be a problem across pretty much the whole district.
“I continue to receive complaints from constituents because they have missed hospital appointments, received legal documents late and missed important business post, to name but a few.
“I have written to Royal Mail several times and I will write again as these problems continue and it is not good enough when people do not receive post sometimes for seven days at a time.
“I am aware there are staff shortages locally and I am sympathetic to the concerns of my local Royal Mail workforce, some of whom have been in touch to talk about their own experiences.
“Folk across Stroud district remain very fond and supportive of their local posties but they are getting increasingly fed up with such a vital service failing.”
Cllr Kate Crews, Green district councillor for Stroud Central, said: “The postal service is disintegrating before our eyes, with ludicrously long waits for post, much of it urgent.
“Only this week one of my councillor colleagues finally received a document from the town council that had been posted first class 13 days previously – that’s nearly two weeks for a letter to travel less than a mile.
“That standard of service is wholly unacceptable.
“The outcry on social media on this subject – and complaints to our councillors from residents – shows that this is by no means an isolated incident.”
Dr Simon Opher, Labour parliamentary candidate for the constituency, said: “Patchy and unreliable deliveries are getting more and more commonplace, with many of us failing to receive timely mail, such as a hospital appointment.
“We all want a reliable Royal Mail, like we used to have.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are sorry to residents who have experienced delays.
“Improving quality of service is our top priority, and we are committed to restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.
“While on occasion there are delays in the area, mail is being delivered daily across Stroud and Stonehouse.
“When a person has mail to be delivered, and does not receive it on the day they expect, we will always aim to prioritise their route the following day.
“We have plans in place to continue driving our service forward and encourage anyone with concerns about their deliveries to please get in touch.”
