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Royal Mail and Parcelforce have suspended all postal services to Europe, effective immediately.
Services to mainland Europe, excluding the Republic of Ireland, have been suspended by Royal Mail in light of concern over the new coronavirus variant in the UK, VUI-202012/01.
Parcelforce have followed suit, and also excluded services to Turkey and Canada.
With just a few days to go until Christmas, both mail groups have been experiencing their busiest time of year.
But with France and other European countries closing their borders to the UK in a bid to prevent the spread of the new variant, bosses say significant disruption should be expected.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “This is a fast-moving situation and we are monitoring things on an hourly basis.
“We are working to keep as many international mail services running as possible given the current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements from the UK. Royal Mail has temporarily suspended all mail services to Europe, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland.
“We are keeping the situation under close review. Customers should check our website for regular updates.”
A Parcelforce Worldwide spokesperson said: “Parcelforce Worldwide has temporarily suspended services to Europe, as well as Turkey and Canada due to the lack of available transport options.
“We are keeping the situation under close review. Customers should check our website for updates.”
A note on Royal Mail’s international service bulletin read: “We know how important these deliveries are to our customers and we would like to thank you for your understanding as we ask for our customers to be as patient as possible during these completely unprecedented times we are all facing.
“We’re working with our airline and postal/courier partners across the globe to maintain services, however delays should be expected. Many countries have implemented special measure to combat the spread of Coronavirus COVID-19, especially for signature service to maintain social distancing. The number of countries we can access is changing daily.”
Dover’s ferry terminal closed to “all accompanied traffic leaving the UK” on Sunday evening after France moved to shut its border for 48 hours.
Royal Mail’s statement added: “Freight lorries cannot cross by sea or through the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover has closed to outbound traffic. There are many other countries taking similar measures, so we expect significant disruptions to our international services.
“All Mainland European exports and imports are impacted, and, Canada and Turkey have cancelled flights to and from the UK and we expect other countries to follow.
“It’s unclear how long these disruptions will remain in place, we’ll update this site as soon as we have more information to share. We’re urgently seeking alternative access points pending the opening of borders.”
While services to Europe have been suspended, Royal Mail have also made major changes to its planned Christmas schedule.
The group have suspended their delivery guarantee, which would have previously ensured post would be delivered before Christmas if they were posted on Devember 23.
Their service bulletin states: “We have made the difficult decision to make the following changes to our timed guarantees for our Special Delivery by 9am and 1pm services:
“For Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm items posted on Wednesday 23rd December we are suspending our delivery guarantee.
“While we cannot currently provide a guarantee that items posted on Wednesday 23rd December will arrive prior to Christmas due to the impact of the new coronavirus restrictions, we can assure you that we will be endeavouring to deliver all items as quickly as possible. We know how important this is.
“Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm items posted up to and including Tuesday 22nd December remain unchanged.”
