Lack of posties and more online buying behind increased waits, Royal Mail says

ROYAL Mail says a lack of postal workers in Shetland and an increase in online buying has led some to some people waiting longer for their post. 

Post is now flown from Glasgow, instead of Aberdeen, to the isles – with concerns raised earlier in the year that would lead to longer delivery times.

A post on a Facebook page for Living and Working in Shetland, which is administered by Promote Shetland, saw commenters this week criticise the length of time it is regularly taking for post to be sent north from Glasgow.

Catherine Puxley, who wrote the post, said items are “consistently sitting in Glasgow for two-three days”.

She said she was not criticising the local postal workers, but added Shetlanders were being “seriously let down” by Royal Mail.

But Royal Mail said its Glasgow hub was not at fault for the perceived delays in the system.

It said a combination of a number of vacancies and an increase in online purchasing in Shetland had meant there was more mail to deal with at the Lerwick delivery office.

“Delivering mail consistently and on time is our top priority,” a Royal Mail spokesperson said.

“At Lerwick delivery office the delivery of mail has, on occasion, been disrupted due to vacancies and high demand.

“During these periods, our posties work hard to minimise delays and return the service to normal as soon as possible.

“We are actively recruiting and encourage anyone who has concerns about their deliveries to contact us directly.”

The move from Aberdeen to Glasgow for mail deliveries came after a pay deal was agreed by airport workers last year.

There were concerns that commitments agreed in the deal around changes to working times may not be met if mail flights to Scottish islands from Aberdeen and Inverness continued.

The Communication Workers’ Union said in January there was a “potential significant impact” on flights which transport mail to the Scottish islands.

It was suggested this could include mail missing connecting flights.

The proposed solution was for mail for the islands to be processed in Glasgow instead of Aberdeen or Inverness, and flown from the city’s airport.