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A crisis hit Royal Mail deliveries on Islay as a severe staff shortage put ‘intolerable’ pressure on posties and islanders faced waiting weeks for mounting mail, or picking it up from Port Ellen Delivery Office.
‘Welcome to our world,’ said one Oban office manager when she heard the news.
People living in and around Oban, and readers of The Oban Times over the last year, will recognise a pattern: no mail for ages, then a deluge of first- and second-class post, sometimes weeks old.
One letter from Oban hospital to a local patient failed to cross town in 18 days. He only received it when he visited the Oban Delivery Office, trying to track down a missing parcel. Complaints went to MSPs, Royal Mail’s CEO, and even a UK minister. The Royal Mail blamed staff shortages and said it was trying to fix the problems.
Further reports surfaced on Islay. In October, a second-class letter posted from Bowmore’s hospital took over a fortnight to arrive at an islander’s home in Port Ellen. Another letter, from a mainland hospital, took over a week, costing them that appointment. ‘I will have to wait another four months,’ they said.
A councillor for Kintyre and the Islands, Alastair Redman, who lives on Islay, said on Monday October 31 he had not had any mail in two weeks. His father had not had any in three. The next day, the former subpostmaster in Portnahaven received eight first- and second-class letters, in which the oldest was mailed over a month ago on September 26.
‘Some of them had more recent dates, which is indicative of them being stacked up,’ councillor Redman said. ‘They all arrived on the same day. First or second class is not making any difference.’
That weekend, Royal Mail staff sorted and handed out mail village by village. On the island’s Facebook page, on Friday October 28, a post giving ‘Islay mail info’ said: ‘We know how frustrated people are with the current situation regarding delivery of mail on Islay.
‘What you may not be aware of, however, is the fact that we are severely short staffed and simply do not have the numbers required to complete all the delivery routes on any given day. Until such time as we have any new employees starting, this will continue to be the case.
‘To try to somewhat resolve this we will sort all the mail tomorrow morning (Saturday) into delivery routes and people can come to the office and collect any mail they are waiting on and that we have – I will post tomorrow when we have sorted an area to advise that collection can be made.
‘We are sorry for all the inconvenience but the pressure on staff still here is becoming intolerable and this is our only solution at present.’
One islander asked: ‘Am I right in thinking you just go to the sorting office when you get your time slot to pick up mail for you and your neighbours? Then out the goodness of your wee heart you go deliver the post? This may seem like a lovely community gesture, but I’m not sure I would like random people having access to my confidential mail.’
Another islander replied: ‘Yes, we go to collect it. As they have only three staff for the entire island. It’s a big community with a lot of trust.’
A third said: ‘We picked up ours plus some neighbours that I got consent from. I may invest in an orange tabard and put my walking boots so I look the part.’
Staff were swamped when more mail came on Monday October 31 – Hallowe’en.
‘Due to the large number of items arriving on the island today, it will not be possible for us to answer the door if anyone comes,’ said a post giving ‘Islay mail info’: ‘Please do not come to the office as we will NOT answer it.’
An islander commented: ‘Royal Mail are an absolute joke. Hallowe’en stuff ordered for kids weeks ago and looks like no hope of it arriving today. Not a dig at local staff as they are fantastic and do what they can. But head office should be ashamed of what has become of Royal Mail.’
The delivery office door reopened the next day, but ‘you can only collect your own post’, the Islay mail info message said.
Argyll and Bute MSP Jenni Minto, who lives on Islay, said: ‘Royal Mail had informed residents via a Facebook notice board that they would need to collect their own mail from the Port Ellen delivery office.
‘This is of serious concern especially when many constituents are waiting to receive letters with details of hospital appointments which could be missed due to these delays. I have written to Royal Mail seeking urgent clarification on why this is happening and for information on what actions are being taken.’
A Royal Mail spokesperson told us: ‘We do not operate a policy of requiring customers to collect their own mail on Islay. We are very sorry for any recent delays. We have been affected by some resourcing issues locally, which we are in the process of addressing.’
More next week.
