Only 70% of first-class post gets delivered on time in Croydon

Royal Mail is breaking the law, with only 3-in-10 of first-class items reaching their destination on time in Croydon, as local councillor launches a campaign calling for urgent improvement

If you are wondering where the usual Christmas card from Aunt Mabel is this year, or where that subscription issue to Council Tax Campaign magazine might have got to, you probably don’t need to fret. The magazine publishers have dispatched their latest issue, and Aunt Mabel’s card is in the post.

But then, so are hundreds of thousands of other postal items in Croydon, where only 70% of first-class mail items get the next-day delivery service people are paying for.

Royal Mail’s target for next-day delivery of first-class mail – which costs senders £1.70 a pop, remember – is 93%.

Royal Mail is legally obliged to deliver first-class mail within one working day. But in Croydon, they are breaking the law with 3-in-10 items.

Croydon’s Royal Mail post delivery service appears to have got worse, not better, since the emergency days of covid lockdown, when the virus spread among staff at sorting offices around the borough and caused huge backlogs of mail.

As Inside Croydon reported in January this year, Royal Mail was even forced to issue an apology because of the poor delivery service, which they said was caused then by widespread sickness at its Factory Lane sorting office, which provides deliveries to the CR0 postcode area of central Croydon.

Some addresses in this area have gone for almost two weeks without having a single item of mail delivered, meaning often vital items, including urgent notifications of NHS hospital appointments or essential GP visits, have not arrived on time. Even prescription medicines failed to be delivered.

And recently, Inside Croydon loyal readers have been in touch again, complaining that they have had no mail delivered to their address. In January, some addresses went for two weeks without any mail. In November and December 2025, and despite Royal Mail’s previous apologies, some households have not had a visit from the local postie for three weeks.

Others have related how first-class items have taken a week to be delivered, even when the item was mailed from elsewhere in London.

And, of course, our readers have found it virtually impossible to raise a complaint with Royal Mail. It is certainly completely impossible to speak with a member of management staff at the various Croydon sorting offices.

Post haste: Cllr Claire Bonham

Across the country, the Royal Mail would always recruit hundreds of casual staff in the weeks before Christmas, to cope with the extra workload of season’s greetings cards and presents. But there’s been little sign of any service improvement according to readers’ feedback.

One Croydon councillor has decided to take action.

Claire Bonham, the Liberal Democrat in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward, has started a petition to lobby the Royal Mail in Croydon to start to deliver a decent service – or at least one that gets 93% of first-class items delivered next day.

“Our local posties do a great job at Christmas time and all throughout the year, but Royal Mail’s bosses need to put more resources into our local service,” Bonham told Inside Croydon.

“So many residents have told me about mail that has been delayed or simply never turned up, as well as missed appointments and hospital letters which arrive too late.

“I have written to the Royal Mail and urged them to improve our service in Croydon.”

Councillor Bonham’s petition can be found on a LibDem-hosted website, so beware: if you choose to sign the petition, it is possible that your email address and personal details might be used for future political campaigning by the LibDems.

Read more: Royal Mail fails to deliver in Croydon and issues public apology
Read more: Royal Mail’s non-deliveries continue to hit Croydon residents