A West Cumbrian woman has received 54 late letters at once this week as postal delays impact the area.
Lynne Todhunter, of Hensingham, said the wad of 54 late letters arrived yesterday morning, Tuesday December 16, after she received no letters and only parcels and padded envelopes for two weeks.
She said: “When I heard the huge thud coming through the door I was gobsmacked and thought I must count these. I couldn’t quite believe it when I got to 54 and decided to post a photo online.”
Lynne said most of the post that arrived was general letters, cards and statements, but that the bundle also contained several late important items, some of which she had been waiting for 17 days to arrive.
Among the late post was two hospital letters dated November 26 and December 1, a GP letter dated November 24, birthday cards for her mum that were due to arrive December 10 and a Christmas present Lynne bought at the end of November, that was posted first class on November 30.
Lynne, who also runs a local heating business with her husband Dave, said the pair also received cheques in the bundle of post from customers who do not use online banking or email.
She added that the entire process of sending out invoices and getting cheques from customers can take up to a month due to the postal delays and impacts cash flow.
Lynne said: “What really maddens me is that people are paying £1.70 for a first class stamp which seems to have no priority whatsoever and appears to be a waste of money when all the mail appears in bulk.”
Several West Cumbrian postcodes have been listed by Royal Mail this week as affected by delivery issues.
These include Egremont’s depot for postcodes CA21, CA22, CA23, CA24, CA25 and CA27 and Whitehaven’s depot for postcodes CA18, CA19, CA20, CA26 and CA28.
An email sent out to customers by Royal Mail earlier this week also said post may be disrupted in Egremont due to resourcing issues at the town’s delivery office.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We know how important letters and parcels are, especially in the run-up to Christmas. While this is our busiest time of year with volumes more than doubling, the vast majority of mail is being delivered on time.
“Where a delivery office is under pressure, including from higher sick absence or vacancies, we put additional support in place and work to keep services moving.
“Last year, 99 per cent of items posted by the last recommended posting dates were delivered in time for Christmas, and our teams are working hard to deliver the same level of service this year.”
In September, Royal Mail said it was experiencing temporary localised staffing issues in West Cumbria which resulted in some areas not getting post on time.
It added at the time that the issues were temporary while it brought in additional agency staff and recruited for new staff members.
Lynne said: “I feel very sorry for our local postal workers, they are all lovely people and work very hard, even more so this time of year, it is not their fault.”
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