Former Barrow priest says Royal Mail delays are nationwide

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https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/26614790 ... ationwide/

A former Barrow priest has said South Cumbrian concerns raised about Royal Mail delivery delays are reflected nationwide.

The Mail reported last week on significant delays to letter deliveries across the region which had led many residents to miss hospital appointments and key bills.

Sarah Ross, 40, whose children have additional needs, had described how she was "anxious” when her kids’ appointments were due as they had missed them before because of late letters.

Father Mark Edwards MBE, a former priest in Barrow, has echoed these experiences and said the situation is the same in his current home in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He said: “Sadly, I have witnessed much the same deterioration in Royal Mail services here in the North-East.

“Over recent years I have had numerous letters and parcels go astray or arrive considerably later than expected.

“More importantly, postal workers themselves have spoken to me about the pressures they are under and their frustration that parcels are often prioritised while letters are allowed to accumulate.”

The former Barrow priest echoed concerns raised by South Cumbrian MPs, Tim Farron and Michelle Scrogham (Image: Submitted)

The priest, who served the Barrow community from 1995 to 2008, said that staff want to deliver a reliable service but have little control over staffing shortages, increased workloads and management decisions.

A Royal Mail spokesperson acknowledged short-term pressures sometimes cause delays and said they are recruiting more staff locally and investing £500m nationally over five years to improve reliability.

Ofcom, the postal regulator, launched an investigation into Royal Mail earlier this year after it missed annual delivery targets yet again.

The company has been fined £37m since 2023 for failing to meet its targets with the latest figures showing only 75.7 per cent of first-class mail arrived within one working day in the year to the end of March, below the 93 per cent target set by Ofcom.

Father Edwards said: “The fact that Royal Mail has repeatedly failed to meet Ofcom's delivery targets suggests that this can no longer reasonably be described simply as a succession of ‘short-term pressures’.

“Something more fundamental has gone wrong.”

The priest said he used to use Royal Mail as an illustration of faith, telling his congregation that we put letters into a postbox in the faith that it will eventually reach its destination.

He said: “Regrettably, I no longer use that illustration. There was a time when posting a letter carried an almost automatic expectation that it would arrive, and usually arrive promptly.

“Today too many people find themselves wondering whether it will arrive at all.”

The former Cumbrian resident said that he agreed with the two South Cumbrian MPs, Michelle Scrogham and Tim Farron, in their condemnation of Royal Mail services last weekend.

Father Edwards said: “Royal Mail was once regarded as one of those great British institutions upon which we could simply depend.

“I sincerely hope it can become so again. But that will require those at the top to listen not only to MPs and customers, but perhaps most importantly to the postmen and women on the ground who understand better than anyone where the system is failing.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We know how important it is that customers receive their mail when expected, particularly important items such as hospital appointments.

“Mail continues to be delivered across Kendal every day, although individual routes can occasionally be affected by short-term pressures. When this happens, our teams work to deliver any outstanding mail as quickly as possible.

“We are also recruiting for a number of roles at Kendal Delivery Office to further strengthen the local team.”

On top of the £500m investment nationally, they said they were also rolling out a new delivery model across all of their 1,200 delivery offices.