Raging Buddies waiting three weeks for letters due to Royal Mail staff shortages

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https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-a ... s-25924264

Raging Paisley residents are waiting almost three weeks for mail to be delivered after staff shortages plunged the town's sorting office into chaos.

The delays have resulted in missed hospital appointments, Christmas cards arriving weeks late and some residents being inundated with up to 20 letters in just one delivery.

Some are even being forced to go straight to the sorting office in Underwood Raod to collect letters themselves, claiming their last deliveries were as far back as December 16.

However, despite the backlash, bosses at Royal Mail say the “vast majority” of mail is delivered on time, while admitting that staff shortages and sickness have impacted the Paisley area.

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One resident, who is a former Royal Mail employee, claims postal staff are being told to focus on parcel deliveries - resulting in letters “piling up” at the sorting office.

The 77-year-old was a manager at the Paisley office for 30 years and says he has been trying to get answers from Royal Mail for weeks.

The man, who lives in Falside Avenue in the town’s Southend, said: “It’s just not good enough. People are missing out on important documents and information they have a right to be receiving regularly.

“People are entitled to have their mail delivered. We are going two weeks or more here with not a single letter.

“We just aren’t getting any deliveries.

“We got one on Friday, which was January 7 and those were the first letters we had received since Christmas Eve.

“This has been an ongoing problem for a while and we have been getting nowhere trying to get answers from Royal Mail about why it is happening.

“They seem to be focusing on packages just now but I have heard the sorting office at Underwood Road has letters piling up that just aren’t being delivered.

“On Friday we got 20 letters at the one time. That just shows the extent of the backlog there must be there.”

Residents have also taken to social media to question the delays to mail, with many all over Paisley experiencing delays, including people in Glenburn, Linwood and Ferguslie.

One person said: “Got mail on Friday that was sent out Dec 20 for hospital appointment for the Friday missed it because I was at work had to call hospital to re arrange its hard enough to get appointment in first place.”

Another added: “We have had no mail since Christmas, until yesterday (January 11) when an absolute mountain of mail arrived.

“My cousin’s Christmas card was among the letters and it has never ever been late.

Another Paisley resident commented: “First mail yesterday since before Christmas - pile of Christmas cards and hospital appointment for December 30 , all were posted on December 16 ... so over 20 days.”

Royal Mail has apologised for the delays and has urged any residents with concerns to get in touch with customer service.

A 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 some areas of Paisley, we have been experiencing some delays to service due to high levels of sickness absence and resourcing issues.

“We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience experienced. We have been working hard to get our levels of service back to normal as soon as possible and the situation is improving.

“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.

“Every item of mail is important to us. We continue to remind colleagues that the delivery, collection and processing of letters and parcels should be treated with equal importance.”