Snow and ice mean Cumbrian presents will not be delivered

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Snow and ice mean Cumbrian Christmas presents will not be delivered

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Presents are expected to go undelivered this Christmas as a result of the heavy snow and icy conditions that have hit Cumbria.

Treacherous and impassable roads have put pressure on delivery companies and resulted in a significant backlog.

It means that many Cumbrians will not receive the gifts they ordered on the internet, despite the best efforts of staff to get them out on time.

Even the guaranteed Christmas deliveries offered by some online companies may not be enough to get parcels to customers by the end of today, some fear.

Nationally there are similar problems as snow continues to cause chaos.

Temperatures did rise overnight – with many places hovering above freezing – but ice is continuing to cause problems, with several high pass routes still closed this morning.

Motorists are being urged to take care in the conditions on a number of roads, including the A6 between Shap and Kendal.

The M6 was also experiencing problems with icy surfaces and thick fog affecting both carriageways at Junction 39, Penrith.

Several local delivery firms contacted by the News & Star yesterday confirmed that they are experiencing problems.

A DHL Express worker said they are doing everything they can but some parcels won’t get out on time, adding: “We are not doing as well as we would have hoped but there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s all down to the weather.”

Parcels that don’t get out today will not be delivered until December 29, because of the Christmas bank holidays. The Home Delivery Network (HDNL), which handles contracts for Amazon, Argos and M&S, among others, has been experiencing similar problems since Tuesday.

One worker said: “We are struggling in certain parts of Cumbria and south west Scotland and probably won’t get to some this side of Christmas.

“We have plenty of staff but it’s all down to this snow. There have been vehicles slipping all over the place.”

Although not all the backlog will be Christmas gifts, delivery staff say they do their best to get all parcels out before Christmas Day. However, even in areas not blocked by snow, icy conditions mean deliveries take much longer.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said that although there may be some delays, they remain confident that all orders will arrive on time.

“Customer orders continue to be dispatched from our Fulfilment Centres in time for Christmas delivery.

“There may be a short delay to the arrival of some deliveries in the worst affected areas but all of these deliveries are expected to be made before Christmas,” she added.

A Royal Mail spokesman said nationally that more than 95 per cent of operations are working normally, although he could not comment on the local situation specifically.

“We expect virtually all of the seasonal postbag of more than 100 million a day to be delivered by Christmas but in a very small number of areas some deliveries have been disrupted because of severe weather and bad road conditions,” he explained.

“Our people are out in often appalling weather conditions to keep the mail moving and we are totally focused on doing everything we can to deliver all letters and parcels posted by the latest recommended posting dates by Christmas.”

Anyone hoping for a white Christmas in north or west Cumbria is likely to be disappointed, with the region set to experience a “mixed bag” of weather over today and tomorrow.

Met Office forecaster Bob Syvert said: “It’s predominantly cloudy with temperatures not rising much above 2C or 3C with a bit of sleet and a bit of snow over higher ground.