Royal Mail apologises that service ‘has not been where it should be’

ROYAL Mail has apologised that its service in part of the Bradford district “has not been where it should be”.

It comes after Anna Dixon, Labour MP for Shipley, wrote to Royal Mail earlier this year highlighting that her constituents experienced “intermittent or no delivery of their post since Christmas”.

She said this resulted in missed hospital appointments, travel difficulties, and fines for late bill payments.

At the time, Ms Dixon reported being contacted by nearly 100 constituents across Baildon, Eldwick, Shipley, and Bingley.

Ms Dixon pressed Royal Mail to explain the postal disruption that affected these, and other areas, across the Bradford district last winter.

While Royal Mail has apologised – citing bad weather and high sickness – Ms Dixon said there was an ‘unwillingness’ from the service to “recognise the severity of the disruption”.

Shipley MP Anna Dixon (Image: UGC)

Following a recent meeting, Ms Dixon told the T&A: “Last week I met with representatives from Royal Mail to discuss the major service disruptions for Shipley constituents.

“Royal Mail did apologise that it took them two months to respond to my requests for a meeting.

“However, I was disappointed that they were unwilling to recognise the severity of postal disruption in our area and the impact this has had on residents, including missing medical appointments and delays in receiving important legal and banking information.

“Royal Mail suggested the service loss was caused by a mixture of bad weather creating a backlog in January, followed by staff sickness and recent spikes in demand due to the planned increase in postal costs this month.

“Despite reports from several constituents I have spoken to, suggesting that postal workers were refused requests to work overtime to clear the backlog when the snow and ice cleared, Royal Mail suggest overtime was used to clear the backlog.

“This issue was also raised by the Communication Workers Union, and Royal Mail suggested their representatives had misunderstood the situation.”

Royal Mail explained that the need for overtime reduces at the beginning of the year when volumes are less following the busy Christmas period.

They did note, though, that overtime will continue to be used where necessary and was used in response to the service disruption caused by the weather.

Ms Dixon said: “In response to my sharing of ongoing constituent reports of service disruption, Royal Mail suggested that their operations were running as normal and that any complaints would be treated on an individual basis.

“I also raised the issue of compensation for constituents for the disruption, and Royal Mail confirmed they only offer compensation to purchasers of postage products rather than the recipients of post.

“Royal Mail clarified that customers should be receiving first-class post and parcels as normal, however, in the future, they will be moving to alternate-day delivery of second-class and economy post due to falling letter volumes.”

Ofcom is proposing a package of reforms to the Universal Service Obligation on Royal Mail, including changes to the delivery frequency of second-class letters and quality of service. The Ofcom proposal is currently in consultation.

The MP added: “In response to concerns I raised about the treatment of Royal Mail staff, the representatives confirmed that postal routes had increased in size and that this had caused health problems for some staff, and likely contributed to higher sickness rates.

“They suggested that alternative roles, such as driving-based parcel delivery routes, had been offered to those not physically able to complete the longer walking routes.”

Richard Carter, Regional Operations Director, Royal Mail said: “I am sorry that the service to addresses in the Shipley constituency has not been where it should be.

“This was due to adverse weather and high sickness. As a result of the high sickness this hindered the service recovery.

“I am confident that your constituents should now be receiving their mail six days a week, when there is mail to deliver. If it is not possible, this mail will be delivered the next working day.”

Ms Dixon said: “I have also raised this issue with Ofcom, who responded explaining that they had fined Royal Mail £10.5 million for breach of its regulatory obligations in 2023/24 and would not hesitate to issue further enforcement action if the company did not take meaningful steps to improve.

“I will continue to monitor this situation, and if you are still experiencing disruption to your postal service, I would encourage you to let me know.”