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A public meeting was held by the Labour MP with representatives from the mail service on Saturday, March 29 at Cheney School in Headington.
The meeting saw around 45 people attend in person, which is around 10 per cent of the number of people who have contacted Ms Dodds about the issues.
A number of issues regarding the postal service in the area were discussed, including the inaccessibility of the sorting office in Ledgers Close, both in terms of getting there by public transport and limited opening hours.
The meeting was described by the Labour MP’s team as ‘productive’, and Royal Mail has promised to do a review of its practices.
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Ms White, did not disclose her first name and lives in central Oxford less than half a mile from the Oxpens sorting office, has since told us that the postal service where she lives is ‘appalling’.
“We count ourselves lucky if the postman comes round more than once a week. Some first class important letters have taken eight weeks to arrive,” she said.
“As well as the slowness of delivery, I know that several items such bank statements, PIN numbers, driving licence communications, vouchers of monetary value, birthday cards, time dependent publications have never been delivered at all.
“And they are just the ones I know about!”
Sandra Bailey, who lives in the Wood Farm area of Oxford, has still not received her Mother’s Day card from her daughter.
She said: “The reason why I am upset that I didn’t get my card is my daughter was adopted when I was 17 and we did not meet each other until she was 48.
“She has always sent me a card but last year it was two days late, and again this year its not arrived on time.
“I really cannot understand what is happening with the delivery.”
Royal Mail claims letters not delivered on the expected day are prioritised the following day.
“Many residents came so that they could have their say about what has been unfortunately a very unreliable service in many parts of Oxford East.
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“People have missed hospital appointments, they’ve missed key family events. They’ve also missed receiving legal documents as well. We heard about all of that in the meeting.
“But I am grateful to Royal Mail for actually coming here to hear directly from people about the problems they’ve experienced, and also to talk about the solutions. I know they are focused on recruitment and on retention.
“We talked a lot about that, how we can try and work together to improve this situation, and I really hope we can see those measures being taken because people in Oxford deserve a much more reliable postal service.”
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “Ensuring everyone’s items arrive on time is our highest priority. On Saturday, we met with the local MP and members of the public to listen to and discuss their service issues.
“We acknowledge there have, at times, been disruption to the service, largely due to lower staffing levels and difficulties with recruiting.
“This is an issue we are actively seeking to resolve; we are currently hiring for permanent roles and as helpfully agreed at the meeting, will be working with the MPs office to advertise positions.
“In the meantime, we are using temporary workers to help ensure items arrive within the times expected.
“We thank customers for their patience as we work to improve their service.”
