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Residents on Islay have been left without postal deliveries for over a week, as posties say they’ve been forced to leave due to working conditions that left them relying on handouts.
Locals say they’ve only been given updates on the situation via a local Facebook page, with fears for those who don’t have access to Facebook or are unable to drive to the sorting office at Port Ellen.
Islay resident Iain Mitchell said: “The problem is that most of the posties have left.
“Conditions for the posties here haven’t been great for quite a few years now, the workload is absolutely huge there are only about three or four of them who go out to deliver the mail and those three or four are basically gone now.
“There are a couple of people working at the sorting office in Port Ellen, at the moment they’re asking if people can go and pick up their mail from there.
“Royal Mail just aren’t interested by the sound of things, there are people complaining to them and whoever they’re talking to is saying ‘no-one else has made any complaint’. The whole community has complained.
“We’re a bit stuck at the moment, we collected our mail on Saturday there only after it was put out on the internet that it was available for our part of the island to pick up mail.
“But we don’t see deliveries coming back for some considerable time and Royal Mail just don’t seem to be doing anything about it.
“The girls here do really well trying to cope with it, but it’s out of hand. The system has collapsed totally.”
Residents say a combination of poor working conditions and an abundance of other roles being available has led to the issue.
Former Islay postie Jim Spencer Love explains: “I was there for over three-and-a-half years, before the pandemic the job was fine, it was achievable, it was a good job.
“Then when the pandemic struck all the parcels went through the roof because we deliver for Amazon and ParcelForce as well as Royal Mail. Amazon just went through the roof and it’s stayed there.
“It’s people ordering things like lawnmowers – it’s all sorts of stuff we deliver. Obviously you can’t fit lawnmowers in the mailbag, it’s a completely different job.
“We carried on through because we were doing it for the customer, and I believe that’s what Royal Mail relied on. Our customers are also our neighbours, we all know each other.
“In the three-and-a-half years I was there over 20 people came and went.”
It’s not just the working conditions that have contributed to a shortage of posties – there are plenty of other jobs islanders can take.
Mr Love explains: “The employment rate is almost 100 per cent on Islay and we’ve got vacancies in every industry. Distilleries always have vacancies, hospitality always has vacancies, the supermarket always has vacancies – there are vacancies everywhere.
“It wasn’t just about better pay, because I’ve actually taken a 20 per cent pay cut to get the new job I’ve got – I just needed to be out of that place.
“The stress was affecting everyone’s mental health, and I mean everybody there.
“The job situation is part of it, but also accommodation. Because we’ve had people coming over from the mainland to apply for the job, and a lot of them couldn’t find suitable housing to stay here.”
That was the case for, another former postie on the island who did not want to be named.
They said: “Several of us who came over from the mainland couldn’t find suitable housing and ended up paying a fortune for tiny places.
“The cumulative effect of the low wage and high workloads, living in poor cramped conditions and knowing that Royal Mail were completely ignoring our warnings about the situation, made it untenable.
“Moreover, we didn’t receive the distant island allowance and are having to take Royal Mail to ACAS to get it. I personally ended up living out of my overdraft and donations of food from locals for the last two months.
“There is zero affordable housing and I decided all these factors, and the much inflated cost of living, meant I no longer wanted to keep doing the role.”
And that lack of interest in the roles can mean long trips even for those in a position to collect their mail.
Mr Mitchell lives near Portnahaven on the south-west of the island, meaning it’s a 50 mile round trip whenever he and his wife have to travel to Port Ellen, with big queues to contend with.
He explains: “As a return journey it’s 25 miles there and 25 back. People are trying to get together and pick up folk who can’t drive.
“Another problem we have is that it’s only getting publicised over the internet, the Facebook page. It’s quite an old population here so I’m quite sure there will be a lot of folk who aren’t actually aware of this and will be wondering where their mail has been.
“People just recently have contacted them and Royal Mail are saying they haven’t had any other complaints. They’re just trying to fob everyone off.
“A lot of the older population don’t drive either.”
Mr Mitchell spoke to The Herald before he and his wife boarded a ferry to the mainland to purchase Christmas supplies they are worried would not be delivered to the island in time.
He said: “We get a lot of stuff from Amazon, the whole island does, they’ve got the next day delivery and it’s not getting fulfilled at all, Amazon are getting back to us apologising for the late delivery and so on.
“We’re just going to try and get some shopping we normally get on the internet at this time of year.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We do not operate a policy of requiring customers to collect their own mail on Islay. Every item of mail is important to Royal Mail. We are very sorry for any recent delays that our customers may have experienced.
“We have been affected by some resourcing issues locally, which we are in the process of addressing. Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via the Royal Mail website www.royalmail.com.”
