Pádraig Delargy blasts ‘second-class system’ and '10 day delays', Royal Mail denies claims

[POSTMAN]

https://www.derryjournal.com/news/polit ... ms-5207155

Royal Mail has denied claims by a Derry MLA that ‘letters can sometimes wait for nine or 10 days before they are delivered’.

Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy made the claim in Stormont telling MLAs that ‘people in Derry will not accept a second-class system’.

Mr. Delargy suggested patients are missing hospital appointments as a result of the late delivery of correspondence from the health service.

During a visit to the sorting office in Derry, he said, he was ‘informed by staff that letters can sometimes wait for nine or 10 days before they are delivered’.

"People in Derry will not accept a second-class system from Royal Mail. People are often left waiting on vital healthcare letters, in some cases missing appointments because they have received the appointment letter days after the appointment was due to take place.

"Our office has been contacted by people who are waiting on a cancer diagnosis and are, obviously and naturally, worried about the impact that the postal delays will have on their treatment options.

“It is also deeply unfair that our postal staff, who work tirelessly in all conditions all year round, are bearing the brunt of decisions taken by Royal Mail management.

“Royal Mail needs to meet its public service obligations. It needs to get mail out to people in Derry in a timely manner, and it needs to take responsibility at management level to make that happen,” said the Foyle MLA.

Royal Mail rejected Mr. Delargy’s description of the situation claiming it was ‘inaccurate’.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “No delivery point in Derry Delivery Office has gone nine or 10 days without a delivery. During the MLA’s visit in January, the vast majority of rounds were completed as normal. A small number of deliveries were delayed due to sick absence, but these deliveries were prioritised the next day.

“During peak periods like Christmas, parcel volumes more than double and space constraints can create safety risks in smaller offices. In these cases, parcels may be cleared first to keep all mail, including letters, moving – this is part of established contingency planning and has been shared with Ofcom.

“We also regularly offer overtime to permanent staff.”

[heraldmoth]

Private business politicians have no business calling in anymore, does he go to Tescos and check the quality of their stock? As mentioned before I would suggest the NHS cut out the down stream access element of what they pay for. A side note I personally get about 3 letters per fortnight but I doubt anyone gets no mail for 10 days

[SkiSunday]

Private business politicians have no business calling in anymore, does he go to Tescos and check the quality of their stock? As mentioned before I would suggest the NHS cut out the down stream access element of what they pay for. A side note I personally get about 3 letters per fortnight but I doubt anyone gets no mail for 10 days

You should probably speak to the head of communications at the NHS about that pal. I'm sure RM are still accepting and cashing in the overinflated payments for the shoddy service provided.

[Mr Rush]

We had a customer complain last December that they went 10 days without seeing us perform the loop on which they live. I reflexively dismissed it as impossible until upon reflection I realised it was true. December is the exemption period, anyway.

Given summer letter traffic (15% callrate and falling), it's entirely possible on a quiet duty for letters to roll over repeatedly without it bursting out of the frame and to consequently be overlooked or selected against through triage prioritising a duty in a worse state.

[heraldmoth]

Private business politicians have no business calling in anymore, does he go to Tescos and check the quality of their stock? As mentioned before I would suggest the NHS cut out the down stream access element of what they pay for. A side note I personally get about 3 letters per fortnight but I doubt anyone gets no mail for 10 days

You should probably speak to the head of communications at the NHS about that pal. I'm sure RM are still accepting and cashing in the overinflated payments for the shoddy service provided.

The point being you can’t claim to have been waiting 10 days on an NHS letter franked the 1st, collect on the 5th by whistle, enter our network on the 6th and then delivered by us on the 9th…..look at any parcel you order, the tracked 24 or 48 starts when it enters our network not when the guy from eBay sticks a pre paid label on it and leaves it on the kitchen table for 3/4 days before he goes to a PO…..so the NHS letter that is 9/10 days late is really 3/4

[hero22]

Is a text message not sent out also as a reminder ?