Fear of failed Christmas deliveries as Royal Mail ‘overstretched and understaffed’

Royal Mail customers in Scotland waiting for festive deliveries face “failures this Christmas”, a union has claimed.

Craig Anderson, from the Communication Workers Union, said some addresses in the country have already not had parcels delivered for almost a week due to the system being “overstretched and understaffed”.

He said that “every” postcode in the country will be affected by staff shortages in the run-up to Christmas.

“In Sighthill (Glasgow), they didn’t get mail for ten days because the postman took his annual leave, and his duty wasn’t covered”, Mr Anderson said.

“There are structural issues right across the network meaning that it could be anywhere on any particular day or week that has a hotspot.

“The system is overstretched and understaffed.

“Staff who started after the bargaining agreement in 2022/23 receive 20% less pay than longer serving staff and this means many staff leave soon after joining.

“We are expecting there are going to be failures this Christmas, which breaks the heart of postal workers.”

It comes after Royal Mail confirmed it had suspended deliveries to residents of a tower block in East Kilbride to “ensure the safety” of postal workers.

The postal service confirmed that it had placed a delivery exemption on all 114 flats in Clyde Tower due to a “serious incident of abuse”.