Woes at Leamington Spa

[ajohnstone]

POSTAL deliveries are being stretched to breaking point in the area by unusually high numbers of staff taking time off sick.
Royal Mail bosses admitted the pressure had been on to get the post out over the past few weeks and residents have felt the knock on effects first hand.
Val Docherty, who works from home in Warwick Gates, believes she has lost up to £3,000 worth of work due to missed or delayed deliveries.
The consultant has twice had to collect her own post from the post office since February, and said deliveries to her Othello Drive homewere just not made some days, including on two occasions in the last week alone.
"I have had thousands of pounds worth of work sitting in a postbox somewhere which I've been unable to quote for," Mrs Docherty told the paper.
"Documents have sometimes never turned up at all, including bank statements.
"It is simply not good enough - Royal Mail has a duty to deliver post once a day.
"No one can tell me anything when I phone them - all I understand is that they have been short staffed recently."
A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said it was aware of the individual complaint, and confirmed deliveries had been disrupted somewhat in recent weeks.
She added: "The regular postwoman for that area (of Warwick Gates) has been off work ill, and there has also been an unusually high number of staff off sick in the last few weeks.
"All rounds have been carried out despite the absences, just sometimes not at the normal times.
"In this specific case the postwoman is back at work now and deliveries will be back to the normal times each day.
"We are sorry if any customers have been unhappy with the service but have done everything possible to make deliveries as smooth as possible."

LEAMINGTON OBSERVER