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Royal Mail has apologised for the inconvenience
Royal Mail has issued an urgent Christmas warning as postal operations across 58 postcodes nationwide face substantial disruption in the run-up to the festive season. The delivery giant has revealed that multiple local sorting offices around the country, including in Wales, are struggling to uphold normal service standards due to “high levels of sick absence, resourcing issues and other local factors”.
While Royal Mail remains committed to its six-day-a-week delivery promise, it has conceded that in some troubled locations, this objective will “temporarily not be possible”.
People living in the affected postcodes have been warned to expect possible delays to both letters and packages during what is traditionally one of the busiest times of year for postal deliveries. The company explained that delivery rounds will be rotated to “minimise delay”, while extra staff have been brought in to help the hardest-hit depots cope with the Christmas mail influx, reports Belfast Live.
An extensive list published on Royal Mail’s website today reveals dozens of impacted postcodes, stretching from London and the South East through to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here.
Areas including Ebbw Vale and the CF39 and CF40 postcodes are said to be impacted in Wales.
A number of distribution centres in Scotland, as well as several facilities across Northern Ireland, encompassing Belfast West, Lisburn and Londonderry, have been incorporated into the list of affected locations.
Royal Mail has apologised for the disruption, stating: “We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. We will regularly update customers on the offices most impacted.”
This comes after a challenging spell for the postal service, which has been contending with increased regulatory oversight and a surge in seasonal volumes.
In October, it was revealed that Royal Mail had been slapped with a £21 million fine for failing to meet its annual first and second class mail delivery targets.
This resulted in millions of letters being delayed across the UK, according to regulator Ofcom. The penalty marks the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog.
Affected postcodes:
- Altens DO (AB10, AB11, AB12, AB35)
- Ashington DO (NE22, NE62, NE63, NE64)
- Barry DO (CF62, CF63)
- Batley DO (WF5, WF15, WF16, WF17)
- Belfast West DO (BT10, BT11, BT12, BT17)
- Bingham DO (NG12, NG13)
- Bristol East DO (BS5)
- Brixton DO (SW2)
- Calderway DO (WF12, WF13, WF14)
- Canvey Island DO (SS8)
- Clevedon DO (BS21, BS49)
- Congleton DO (CW4, CW12)
- Dundee East DO (DD4, DD5, DD7)
- Dunstable DO (LU5, LU6)
- Dyce DO (AB21)
- Eastwood DO (NG16)
- Ebbw Vale DO (NP23)
- Erskine DO (PA7, PA8)
- Glenrothes DO (KY6, KY7)
- Gloucester North DO (GL3, GL4)
- Gravesend Rural DO (DA12, DA13)
- Grimsby DO (DN31-DN37)
- Hyde DO (SK13, SK14, SK16)
- Inverclyde DO (PA14-PA19)
- Inverurie DO (AB51, AB52)
- Johnstone DO (PA5, PA6, PA9, PA10, PA12)
- Kettering DO (NN14-NN16)
- Kidsgrove DO (ST7)
- Kingswood DO (BS15 and BS30)
- Lichfield DO (WS7, WS13, WS14)
- Lisburn DO (BT26, BT27, BT28)
- Lochgelly DO (KY5)
- Londonderry DO (BT47-BT48)
- Mid Rhondda Ganol DO (CF39-CF40)
- Northfield DO (B31)
- North Tyneside DO (NE25-NE30)
- Northwich DO (CW8-CW9)
- Nottingham South DO (NG2, NG12)
- Ongar DO (CM5)
- Plympton DO (PL7)
- Pontefract DO (WF7, WF8, WF9, WF11)
- Prescot DO (L34, L35)
- Radstock DO (BA3)
- Renfrew DO (PA4)
- Sleaford DO (NG34)
- St Helens DO (WA9, WA10, WA11)
- Thornbury DO (BS35)
- Tipton DO (DY4)
- Uddingston DO (G71)
- Warrington DO (WA1, WA2, WA4, WA5, WA55)
- Wellington DO (TA21)
- Westhill DO (AB13, AB14, AB32)
- Whitehaven DO (CA18-CA20, CA26, CA28)
- Whitwood DO (WF6, WF10)
- Wigan DO (WN1-WN6)
- Wolverhampton DO (WV1, WV2, WV3, WV4, WV5, WV10, WV13 and WV14)
During the 2024-25 financial year, Royal Mail managed to deliver only 77% of first class mail and 92.5% of second class mail on time, Ofcom discovered. These figures fell short of their respective targets of 93% and 98.5%.
This marks the third consecutive year that the British postal service has incurred financial sanctions for not meeting its service standards.
Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, commented: “Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.
“These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better. Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency. And that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises.
“We’ve told the company to publicly set out how it’s going to deliver this change, and we expect to start seeing meaningful progress soon,” Mr Strawhorne added. “If this doesn’t happen, fines are likely to continue.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the decision made by Ofcom today and we will continue to work hard to deliver further sustained improvements to our quality of service. A key area of focus and investment has been the detailed work ahead of full implementation of our new delivery model, enabled by Ofcom’s changes to the universal service.
“This is critical to enable us to drive a step change in quality of service. We have also implemented important changes across our network including recruiting, retaining and training our people, and providing additional support to delivery offices.”
The postal service has stated that pilot schemes testing the proposed universal service modifications are “working, with improvements in deliveries” noted in some parts of the country.
The communications regulator has approved Royal Mail’s proposal to end Saturday second-class letter deliveries and move the service to other weekdays, with the changes set to be introduced in the coming months.
However, Royal Mail must still fulfil its universal service obligation to provide Monday to Saturday deliveries for first-class mail and uphold the three working day delivery standard for second-class letters.
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