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Frustrated Londoners are asking politicians to “fix the broken postal service” as it was found that a third of all UK postcodes affected by Royal Mail delays last Thursday were in London.
Royal mail’s website reveals that London has been hit uniquely hard by “Covid-related” closures to post offices and delays.
It shows that out of the 18 offices in the UK listed as the most impacted by Covid or ‘local factors’, 10 of them are in the London area.
READ MORE: Croydon warned to expect post delays after Royal Mail staff catch Covid
These include:
Delivery delays have prompted angry residents of SE22; East Dulwich, Dulwich Village and Peckham Rye to create a petition asking for a fix for the “failing postal system”.
The petition is only a few signatures short of its 1500 goal.
Despite the disproportionate effect covid is having on London, the petitioning residents of East Dulwich, Dulwich Village and Peckham Rye say that mailing issues are a pre-pandemic problem.
They say that the closure of the Silvester Road sorting office in 2017 was the start of the problem which has only gotten worse during the pandemic, according to the BBC.
The Change.org petition description says: “Since the closure of Silvestester Road’s sorting office back in 2017, combined with staff shortages and (in the last 2 years), Covid, Royal Mail has been failing to provide even a basic level of service in beleaguered SE22 and the surrounding areas of Dulwich Village and parts of Peckham Rye.
“It would be easy to blame all this on Covid but the problems existed long before Covid was a household name and they are likely to continue long into the future unless something is done.”
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With the pandemic seemingly exacerbating mailing issues, underserved areas of London are being more affected by covid-related absences than other parts of the country.
Many residents who signed the petition gave their reasons citing mailing delays such as receiving Christmas cards on January 22 and football tickets arriving on January 8 from a match on New Year’s Day.
However, many who signed weren’t residents of the specific South London area but were still experiencing massive delays.
One wrote: “I live on Sydenham Hill and have had very few deliveries since before Xmas. Am now telling people NOT to post things. This is yet another part of the essential infrastructure that’s collapsing in third-rate Tory Britain.”
Another said: “I don’t live in Dulwich, but on the Rouel Road estate in Bermondsey., where we have only had one postal delivery since December 21st 2020.”
A third added: “This affects SE15 too, waited a month for correspondence from hospital which should have taken 5 days. Christmas card from Peterborough arrived to family in north west Vietnam quicker than it did Nunhead! This needs to be sorted ASAP, it is not acceptable.”
Many were quick to stress that they don’t believe postal workers were to blame for the issues.
One said: “I’m really supportive of all the postal workers who deliver to us, and want to say here that they are working so hard to try and fix this, so please don’t blame them. The problem is a managerial one stemming from the closure of Sylvester Road sorting office and staff shortages.”
This widespread problem has caught the attention of at least one London politician.
Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central, said in a Facebook post that she has written to Royal Mail “asking them to investigate the current state of affairs”.
She wrote: “It is my understanding that both the Croydon and South Croydon Delivery Offices are currently unable to complete all deliveries six days a week due to absences.”
She added: “It is my understanding that both the Croydon and South Croydon Delivery Offices are currently unable to complete all deliveries 6 days a week due to absences.”
Ms Jones reassured her constituents: “Please rest assured that I am looking into this issue and continue to keep a close eye on the situation.”
She also praised postal workers calling them “a cornerstone of our community” saying “they deserve our utmost respect and gratitude for their work.”
The BBC reported back in December that postal workers calling in sick was “much worse than a normal Christmas” and around “twice the normal levels”.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
“In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as Covid-related self-isolation, higher-than-usual levels of sickness absence, resourcing or other local factors.
“We are providing targeted support to the local offices affected by these issues.”
Royal Mail’s website currently lists that there was only one area affected by delays over the past weekend saying that at Gatwick Mail Centre “not all mail was processed or despatched to schedule over the weekend, and as a result, some mail may be delivered slightly later than expected. “
These delays will affect postcodes in Redhill (RH) and Brighton (BN).
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