Postal problems for Chineham residents

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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POST has not been delivered every day in the Chineham area because of problems at the Royal Mail office in Basingstoke.

Janet Aris contacted The Gazette after she became aware that she had not received post in Thyme Close for two days.

The 62-year-old contacted Royal Mail and was told that there were no known problems at the Basingstoke delivery office, in Priestley Road.

However, she said she questioned a postman and he confirmed that post was being left behind at the sorting office.


She said: “On phoning back to Royal Mail, I was told that this was probably due to staff shortages and I should not expect a daily delivery!

“I questioned this and asked about urgent items such as hospital appointments, to be told that if there are not enough staff, the post could not be delivered and that was that.”

The retired mother-of-two added: “I’m aware that items which should have been delivered haven’t been. This has happened for the last month or so.

“We have a subscription to the Radio Times and it comes out on Tuesday. Twice in the last month or so, I have stopped the postman and said ‘no Radio Times?’ and they said ‘no’. The postman said no one had time to put them out. We seem to have a different postman every day.”

Mrs Aris later received a letter, dated November 4, from Timothy Williams, customer service advi-ser for Royal Mail, which apologised that she had not received mail for “a number of days.”

He added: “Your delivery office manager has confirmed that problems have been experienced recently with mail deliveries in your area but these issues have now been rectified.

“I’m very sorry for this but am assured that you should now receive your mail on the day it’s available at the delivery office.”

He apologised for the problems, and added: “We take letting our customers down seriously and will use this information to make further improvements.”

Mrs Aris said she would not have been aware of the extent of the problem had one postman not confided in her. She added: “My father used to work for Royal Mail. He would be turning in his grave.”

The Gazette reported in July about problems at The Basingstoke office when 200 staff met with a representative from the Commun-ication Workers Union, and agreed to work-to-rule by coming in on time, taking their breaks and finishing on time, which resulted in post being undelivered.

Staff accused Royal Mail bosses of not paying them to take on extra work.

Royal Mail spokesman Mike Norman said: “We are aware of the issue raised by this customer and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“We would advise any customer experiencing difficulties with their delivery to call our Customer Service team on 08457 740 740.”

[hampshireman]

Bloody hell. My first house was in that area