'We lost our regular postman - and since then it’s been chaos'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... r-34093601

Neighbours on a Liverpool street said "you're more likely to see Father Christmas with his sack" than a postman with a bag of letters as they wait weeks for post. People living on Hawdon Close, Edge Hill, told the ECHO they have been waiting three weeks for important letters.

Steve Williamson, 70, said Royal Mail had been “spot on” before the last month. He says he has not received any letters for three weeks. He said “We lost our regular postman, and since then it’s been chaos.”

Steve’s son, a HGV driver, is waiting for a tachograph card to be delivered to the address. He said the card was due two weeks ago. Without it, Steve’s son won’t be able to work.

The dad went down to the sorting office at Sandhills on Thursday (June 4) and received two recent letters, but not the tachograph card or hospital letters he had been expecting for some time.

Steve said: "We see the parcel van shooting around and just dropping parcels off, but no letters are delivered.

"I have phoned a few people, and keep getting emails back saying you should get a delivery in the next few days that will clear the backlog, and then we’ll get back to normal, but you’d be more likely to see Father Christmas with his sack."

Steve and his wife are waiting for hospital letters and the European Health Insurance Cards they need to go on holiday to L’Estartit, Spain.

When the ECHO reported on similar issues affecting Fountains Road, Kirkdale, last month, also served by the Sandhills sorting office. Royal Mail said it continued to make daily deliveries across that area and that 92% of letters are delivered on time nationally.

Joan Hughes, 75, said she last received a letter to her home on Hawdon Court on May 20. She said hospital letters have been among the post she has been expecting and not received. Joan said she called the hospital to confirm the date of the appointment and that letters were sent out.

She said: “I’ve lived where I live now all my life and I’ve never had a problem with the Royal Mail.”

Joan worries that among the letters she has not received may be a speeding ticket, and that she could be landed in further trouble if she does not receive the letter and pay any fine on time.

“I’m not worried about getting the fine,” she said. “But I’m worried if I don’t get the ticket in time I’ll end up in court.”

219 million letters to arrive late this year
In February, the parliamentary Business and Trade Committee launched a snap investigation into Royal Mail’s letter deliveries after what it called "widespread reports of late and missing letters, or letters bunched together for delivery days after they were due".

The committee reported important notices, medical appointments and celebrations were being missed, and concerns were raised that the essential letter service was being de-prioritised in favour of the more lucrative parcel service.

The committee estimated 126 million First Class letters, around 25%, will be delivered late this year, despite the cost of a First Class stamp rising to £1.80 last month. First Class stamps now cost almost three times more than they did ten years ago.

The existing Second Class service is performing better than First Class even if still off-target at 90.2% delivered on time within three days – translating to around 93 million being delivered late across this year, the committee reported.

In April 2025, shareholders cleared 500-year-old Royal Mail’s buy-out by the EP Group. They gave the Government legal undertakings that they would maintain the "one price goes anywhere" Universal Service Obligation. Ahead of the deal, EP Group’s CEO Daniel Křetínský told the BBC he would honour the letter delivery service "for as long as I am alive".

In July 2025 Ofcom announced significant changes to the USO, with Second Class deliveries dropped down to every second day, Monday to Friday only. Royal Mail would get new "backstop" targets to for mail it delivers up to two days late, and report against those too.

'I think it's disgusting'
Kenny Major, 61, said: “I think it’s disgusting that people aren’t getting their post. But, unless you’re waiting for something, you probably wouldn’t notice. It’s only when someone asks if you’ve had any letters that you think back. We used to get letters every single day.”

Kenny’s wife, Gill, believes receiving letters through the post will soon become a thing of the past. She said: “Most important stuff can be done online now, including hospital appointments.”

Neighbour Graham Moser told the ECHO: “It’s not right what’s happening. People are missing important stuff.”

Tom Gibbons added: “We’ve not had any letters for a while, and we’re expecting insurance quotes, but they’ve not come through.

“It’s weird. You don’t want letters to start going missing for long periods.

The ECHO approached Royal Mail but did not receive a response by deadline.

When approached regarding a similar issue in Kirkdale last month, a spokesperson said: "We know how important it is that letters arrive on time, particularly when they relate to hospital appointments or other important documents.

"We can confirm our posties continue to make deliveries across the area every day where there are items to be delivered. Nationally, more than 92% of letters are delivered on time and 99.4% arrive within a week, meaning long delays are very rare.

"However, we would encourage any customer awaiting important items to contact us directly so we can investigate."