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Claire Ward, who lives on Bickley Street, told Your Local Guardian that she and her neighbours living in SW17 have received little to no communication from the Post Office about the ongoing disruption.
She said: “It’s been going on since November – we haven’t had bank cards delivered, hospital letters, or any communication whatsoever.
“I had an email yesterday from someone at the Post Office saying there was a difficulty in delivery.
“I’ve been here for 40 years, and in 39 years I have never had this problem before.”
A spokesperson for Royal Mail has confirmed that deliveries in the area have been impacted at times by “higher than usual levels of sick absence and vacancies”.
The spokesperson added: “We are actively working to return the service to normal and thank customers for their patience.”
The disruption has left Claire so frustrated that she has had to reroute her bank cards to her local bank branch and cancel magazine subscriptions due to their late arrival.
She has even resorted to handing letters to friends in Balham, fearing that local post boxes are unreliable.
A postman delivering a parcel allegedly informed her that the delays were due to a staffing issue, saying the previous postman had retired and had yet to be replaced.
“Apparently, the department that delivers parcels said that the mail for SW17 is piled up to the ceiling,” Claire said.
“It needs six or seven people to reorganise it, and there is nobody to do so.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson added: “We are committed to ensuring everyone’s items arrive on time.
“We have measures in place to ensure deliveries continue with any items that are not delivered on their expected day being prioritised.”
Further concerns have been raised about the limited opening hours of the Long Mead Road Post Office, which is only open between 8am and 10am.
Claire said this is inconvenient for many residents, particularly those with disabilities.
“It’s thoroughly inconvenient for most people because they’re on their way to work, or like me, they’re disabled and need a walking stick, so it’s difficult,” she said.
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said the change of opening hours were brought in in 2023 to service points across the country after a “significant increase” in doorstep services, such as parcel collect and SafePlace, as well as the introduction of automatic delivery.
The spokesperson added: “This meant 99 per cent of items are successfully delivered to customers on the first or second delivery attempt.
“Reducing the need for customers to visit the customer service point.”
