Twigg demands answers over ‘appalling’ town postal service

The World reported recently how Mr Twigg had taken the organisation to task after being contacted by residents over post apparently going undelivered – including letters about hospital appointments, debit cards and other sensitive mail. The Royal Mail admitting to him it could only provide a full service to ‘around 60 per cent’ of the town due to staffing issues.

But Mr Twigg has subsequently met with management again where he disputed their claim of 60 per cent coverage, claiming that some areas were going without a delivery for ‘weeks on end’.

He said he was promised that further staff were being recruited and that, from Monday, 10 agency workers would be brought in to help clear a backlog.

Writing on Facebook, he said: “I was offered an online meeting with the lead operations team at Widnes, which I refused and demanded an in person meeting at Widnes Sorting Office. I will be meeting with them in person on Monday.”

He said he had also made an unannounced visit to the Widnes sorting office to view the situation first hand.

He said:  “I spoke to numerous people, some waiting for NHS appointments, others waiting for important documents and debit cards. The collection point was closed.”

He added: “As I have pointed out all along, this situation is not the fault of the posties, it is my belief that the operational decisions being made by management are to blame.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We have plans in place and dedicated teams responsible for improving deliveries in Widnes and throughout our delivery offices nationwide.

“Over the last six weeks we have recruited around 3,000 postmen and women and are continuing to recruit 500 permanent positions a week in delivery.”

He said to support the physical and mental health of employees and assist them in their return to work, it had introduced a wellbeing programme which provides free healthcare support.

He added: “In the lead up to Christmas, we are taking on 16,000 temporary workers, more vehicles and additional parcel sorting sites to handle double the normal volume of parcels we expect over the period.

“These actions plus others are already making a difference in some areas and we are confident that they will continue to improve quality of service for our customers.”