‘It’s spiralling out of control’: Residents ‘cut off’ without vital mail deliveries

Residents in one part of South Manchester feel ‘cut off’ from wider society as vital mail deliveries fail to arrive for days and even weeks, according to neighbours.

The reduction of postage on Peel Hall estate, in Wythenshawe, is prompting ‘stress and worry’ among residents, some who rely on essential letters, bills, and medication to be delivered.

Julie Ashton, a local resident, waited five days after her birthday for loved ones’ cards to arrive and continues to wait on knee braces and hospital appointments to be delivered.

“Post is not being delivered at all. It was my birthday last week and I’ve only just received the cards five days afterwards – it’s upsetting,” she told the Manchester Evening News.

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She added: “I’ve been waiting on hospital appointments and knee braces for weeks, and because of health issues I’m unable to travel to the post office to pick up parcels. We’re reliant on deliveries. People pay enough for stamps and post to be given a first-class service.”

The issue, which residents claim started in June, has led to multiple complaints from people on the estate to Royal Mail, where a spokesperson said ‘we are very sorry’ to residents experiencing delays impacted due to ‘higher levels of sick absences than usual’.

Some residents resorted to collecting their parcels from their local sorting office, in the neighbouring ward of Sharston, but not all people can do this due to not being within easy walking distance.

Karen Trimble said: “I’m not very well at the moment and unable to go and pick up parcels, but I’ve been told if I want mail we have to wait for it to be delivered.”

Some neighbours such as Graham Bell claim their post was not delivered for over four weeks, causing his appointment to be cancelled when he failed to confirm through not receiving the letter in time.

“I didn’t receive any mail for over four weeks and it continues to be sporadic. Letters were delivered on July 22 dated to 2 July with next-day stamps. It caused me to miss an appointment because I didn’t get the letter in time to confirm it,” Graham said.

He added: “It’s spiralling out of control – we’re weeks behind on our postage. It feels like we’ve been cut off from everyone.”

Joanne Moore said: “It’s causing a lot of stress for residents, some who are elderly and vulnerable people. Some of these people don’t have access to the internet or other forms of communication to arrange bills and appointments. It’s a big worry for them and unfair.”

Another resident said: “Important mail such as hospital and other appointments are now being missed, as letters arrive late; as if the situation with hospital appointments being cancelled due to NHS workers’ strikes isn’t bad enough.

“It’s a very poor service that Royal Mail are delivering…or rather, not delivering, to our estate.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are sorry to residents who have experienced delays in the estate. Improving our quality of service is our top priority and we are committed to restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.

“The local service has been impacted by higher levels of sick absences than usual. Every effort is being made to mitigate this impact and keep delays to a minimum. Currently, mail for the area is being delivered every other day but work is underway to ensure this level of service is greatly improved.

“Across our business we have plans in place to drive service levels and reduce absence at our delivery offices, we hope and expect to see further progress in the coming months.”