There are concerns over delays to post deliveries in Gloucester and civic chiefs say they are being ignored by Royal Mail. Residents in Abbeydale have been reporting problems with postal deliveries for several months with some people not having any post delivered for days.
Some have had late hospital appointment letters while others have received birthday and wedding cards after the important date. Councillor Andrew Gravells (C, Abbey), who represents the area on the city and county councils, has raised this issue with the Royal Mail but they are ignoring his questions.
He said this issue first cropped up in February and at the time he had a meeting at the Gloucester North Delivery Office to try to understand why mail was being delivered so erratically. Cllr Gravells says he followed that up by writing to the head office of Royal Mail and was reassured that the sorting office rounds had been amended to ensure that there would be an improvement in the way post is delivered and for a while it was.
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But he says a few weeks ago it was clear that the sorting office was experiencing problems so he asked residents online what their experience had been lately. He said: “Firstly, the postmen and postwomen in Abbeymead and Abbeydale are the best, very efficient and very friendly, and that was really great feedback on the posties in my area which I agreed with 200 per cent.
“Of some concern though were the number of people who told me that they’d had things like hospital appointment letters delivered late, or birthday and wedding cards delivered after the actual day.
“So again, I wrote to the head office of Royal Mail asking a lot of questions about the post in my area, and that was three weeks ago now. And despite firing off a reminder a few days ago, I’ve yet to receive any sort of reply to my questions.
“My chaser email was acknowledged, and that was the sum of it to date. I’m not going to let this drop because my neighbourhood deserves much much better, and it’s just not on to have such a hit and miss system of postal deliveries here.”
Royal Mail has not responded to requests for comment.