"Royal Mail’s performance has been unacceptable" Call for investigation into Caddington post service

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https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/community/ ... ce-9002357

Residents in Caddington say they have been left waiting weeks for post, with problems reported at around 120 addresses.

Anthony Frankland, who runs one of the Caddington residents’ groups, says he began speaking to residents after experiencing repeated problems with his own post.

He says he has now identified around 120 addresses where residents have reported issues, including missing letters, delays of several weeks and households receiving no post for up to three weeks before a large bundle arrives.

Problems include hospital and NHS appointment letters arriving after appointments had already taken place.

He said: “For elderly or vulnerable residents in particular, the consequences of this potentially go far beyond inconvenience.

“People still rely on the post for hospital appointments, financial correspondence and other important documents. A letter arriving three weeks late can have very real consequences.”

Concerns were also raised that the service has deteriorated since the previous regular postman left.

Mr Frankland says he has personally had six items fail to arrive over six months – but while he stressed he was not accusing individual delivery workers of wrongdoing, he wants Royal Mail to find out what is going wrong.

He has formally escalated the issue to Royal Mail senior management and asked for the delivery round serving Mancroft Road to be investigated, along with whether the problems are affecting the wider Caddington area.

A Royal Mail spokesperson told the Luton News: “We take concerns about deliveries seriously and are focused on improving performance for customers.

“Our latest results show that 85 per cent of First Class letters are delivered the next working day and 98.1 per cent within three days. Across all letters, 93 per cent are delivered on time and more than 99 per cent within a week.

“We are continuing to make changes across our delivery operation.”

Cllr Kevin Collins, who represents the Caddington Ward on Central Bedfordshire Council, said he and another councillors have also experienced problems.

He said: “We are both Caddington residents as well as representatives for the area and can attest to the erratic nature of postal deliveries both personally and through the anecdotal evidence frequently brought to our attention by residents.

“We know that many people have also raised this with Rachel Hopkins, and we appreciate her involvement.

He added: “Whilst some weeks the service might be something approaching normal, it is only too common for deliveries to just stop and then after some considerable gap, a huge delivery arrives all at once.

“It is common for these large bundles to contain items which are clearly out of date, such as renewal invitations for things which have already expired, medical or other appointment confirmations for a date which has already passed and so on.

Cllr Collins said individual delivery workers are friendly, but that they are “clearly overstretched and the system is not fit for purpose”.

Luton South and South Bedfordshire MP Rachel Hopkins said: "In recent weeks, a number of constituents have raised with me their frustrations about postal delays in Caddington, which I urgently raised with Royal Mail.

"Last year, I held a survey on postal deliveries in Luton South and South Bedfordshire. 77 per cent of respondents reported dissatisfaction with services, so I raised this directly with Government Ministers and OFCOM.”

She said: “I have also met with the Communication Workers Union to discuss changes to the Universal Service Obligation.”

"Royal Mail’s performance has been unacceptable and must improve,” she added.

> Have you had problems with mail deliveries? Email us at editorial@lutonnews.co.uk