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On Monday, Royal Mail confirmed that a number of staff who work at the delivery office in Lincoln are currently self-isolating, and said there had also been virus outbreaks in Daventry and Northampton. Last week, seven postmen in Horsham contracted the virus and have not been able to work, while 21 people at the Margate delivery office have been forced to self-isolate after three staff members fell ill.
In Ilford, the system appears to have ground to a halt. Local resident Valerie Wallbank said that she had received any mail to her home in Hainault since December 12.
“It’s quite serious,” she told the Ilford Recorder. “Some people are not bothered because they do everything online, but for some of us it’s quite important.”
It is understood that in the run-up to Christmas, up to 40 per cent of the postal workforce in the area was off sick or self-isolating.
Wes Streeting, the local MP, told The Telegraph that while it was understandable that Royal Mail’s performance was being severely affected by the virus, the problems were having “a serious knock-on impact on people getting important NHS correspondence, both about their vaccination and also other routine appointments.”
He said: “I have been told locally that Royal Mail are prioritising the delivery of parcels to get the backlog down, but I wonder if there is a way for NHS correspondence to be clearly labelled as such and prioritised for delivery. No one wants to see a situation where people are missing their vaccination appointments.”
