MP joins postal worker on delivery round as part of office visit

An MP has visited a delivery office in Shirley and joined a postal worker on a delivery round.

Satvir Kaur, MP for Southampton Test, visited postal workers at Shirley Delivery Office as part of her constituency work.

She met local workers and heard about how Royal Mail is adjusting to the rise in parcel volumes and the decrease in letters.

The firm, which used to deliver 20 billion letters a year at its peak, now only delivers 6.7 billion annually, a decline Ms Kaur was made aware of during her visit.

Kevin Taylor, customer operations manager for Shirley, said: “We were happy to host Satvir at our Delivery Office – our posties really enjoyed meeting her! We hope that she enjoyed learning about how letters and parcels are delivered and how Royal Mail’s operation is modernising and transforming to meet our customers’ changing needs.”

Satvir Kaur, Member of Parliament for Southampton Test, said: “Huge thanks to Royal Mail for hosting me at Shirley Delivery Office, and to all the posties for chatting to me during my visit.

“It was fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes, and to witness first-hand the hard work staff put in to make sure Southampton’s post gets safely delivered. Southampton’s postal workers well and truly deserve our thanks, so remember to say hi next time you see your local postie.”

Ms Kaur also joined a local postal worker named Mark on a delivery round.

On the route, she learned about the challenges postal workers face, including low-level letterboxes and an increasing number of dangerous dogs.

In the SO postcode area, dog attacks on postal workers increased by 19 per cent in the last year compared to the previous year.