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The delivery firm has confirmed that the town is among 82 postcodes across the country are affected by delays to deliveries.
Royal Mail serves hundreds of postcode areas across the UK and says that it aims “to deliver to all addresses six days a week.”
However, it has admitted that issues such as sickness, absence and resourcing can often cause localised delays.
On Monday night, March 9, a Royal Mail lorry that was travelling from Edinburgh Mail Centre to the Midlands Parcel Hub was hit by major delays on the road.
The company has confirmed that mail arrived in the Midlands later than expected, and has caused a knock-on effect to delivery across London, the South East, the South West and parts of Wales.
In the Royal Mail’s latest service update, it has listed Swindon as one of 82 towns or cities currently experiencing delays to post delivery.
SN1, SN2, SN3, SN6, SN25, SN26, SN38 and SN99 are all listed as postcode areas affected.
“We will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers,” said a spokesperson for Royal Mail.
“We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”
Other nearby towns and cities which are being affected by the delays include Bristol, Oxford and Wallingford.
This isn’t the first time that residents in Swindon have experienced delays to Royal Mail deliveries.
Recent figures show that across the Royal Mail, 91.6 per cent of second-class mail was delivered within three working days, while 77.5 per cent of first-class post was delivered the next working day between September 29 and November 30.
These figures are short of the targets set by Ofcom.
Royal Mail chief executive Alistair Cochrane said the recent figures mark an improvement on the previous quarter, but recognised the company’s “performance in letters is still not good enough”.
In some cases, Royal Mail may pay compensation to the sender or the addressee of a delayed item.
You may be entitled to compensation in the following circumstances:
- 1st class – your delivery is three or more (six or more if Redirected Mail) working days late after the due date (next working day after posting)
- 2nd class – Three or more working days late (six or more if Redirected Mail) after the due date (3 working days after posting)
- Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm – One or more working day(s) after the due date (on guaranteed date as per product specification)
