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Please Mr. Postman, look and see if there’s a letter left for Didsbury (or Withington).
Many households covered by the south Manchester sorting office claim they have been without post for over a week.
However, frustrated residents say it is not a new issue – claiming there has been an infrequency in postal deliveries since October.
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Some locals say they have missed hospital appointments and had disappointed family members when no birthday cards arrived on time.
Royal Mail has apologised and said delays in the Didsbury area are due to “high levels of sickness absence”.
But Sasha Johns, a PHD student in Withington, has not received any post from Royal Mail since December 2.
She said: “It’s quite stressful, especially this time of year when I’m trying to get organised for Christmas.
“I’m specifically waiting for a number of packages that should have arrived by now, including a phone case so I’m a bit nervous I’m going to drop and break my new phone.
“I feel like it’s an issue across the board with staff shortages.
“I’m not an expert at all but wonder if it could have anything to do with wider issues caused by the government’s handling of covid and Brexit.”
Paul Davies, who is also from Withington, says he did not receive any post in the last week and, when he has, it has been severely delayed. He says he almost missed the appointment for his flu jab due to the letter arriving late.
“We were at home on Saturday morning and saw the postman. He had a letter for us and it was for our flu jabs.
“It [the flu jab] was meant for that day, but we were lucky and were able to walk in at the doctors.”
He added: “Christmas is around the corner and we’ve got cards to send. It’s worrying.”
(Image: MEN)
A post shared on the Facebook Group Didsbury M20 received attention after residents said they too had also not had any post in a while.
The post read: “We haven’t had a single letter for over a week. I mean it’s usually just bills so not that fussed but when a family birthday has come and gone and no cards have arrived we know have been sent, that’s not fun.”
Local residents chimed in with their own misfortune at the lack of post.
Have you been affected? Let us know in the comments below
One commenter said: “Hardly any posts here too. Things like hospital appointments and other important letters don’t arrive causing missed appointments and delayed diagnoses which could have disastrous consequences.”
Another frustrated resident said: “We’re on Cavendish Road. Nothing for weeks.
“Double birthdays on 23rd, nothing. 26th, I rang the Post Office and 2 hours later LOADS of post arrived.
“Earliest dated 11th November including two appointment letters from the NHS (which we obviously missed!).
“Post woman said it wasn’t because of the phone call, she just had time that day to deliver. She said that they were given too much to deliver and that covid absences were making things worse.
“She said they had to prioritise tracked mail, and that things would only get worse over Christmas. She looked shattered, to be fair. She said to complain to Royal Mail and that she had complained to her union rep about it.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time.
“We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
“In the Didsbury area, we are experiencing some delays to service due to high levels of sickness absence.
“We apologise to any customers who may have experienced delays to their mail.
“We are working hard to get our levels of service back to normal as soon as possible.
“Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via the Royal Mail website www.royalmail.com .”
