A LOCAL councillor has called on Royal Mail for proper staffing cover in Great Houghton after a whistleblower revealed the whole area is served by a team of just two.
Earlier this year, Darfield councillor Kevin Osborne hit out at the postal service after some residents in the area went without post for weeks on end.
The situation did improve momentarily, however locals are once again complaining about a lack of postal deliveries.
Coun Osborne told the Chronicle a whistleblower has said the service is getting worse - and that only two workers serve the area.
He said: “Residents in Great Houghton and nearby villages are once again experiencing serious disruption to Royal Mail’s letter delivery service, despite previous assurances that the problem had been resolved.
“Over recent weeks, households have again reported long gaps with no letters delivered at all, while parcels continue to arrive daily.
“This reflects the national picture now being widely reported - parcels are being prioritised over letters, even though Royal Mail remains legally obliged to deliver letters six days a week.
“Following my intervention earlier this year I received information from a Royal Mail whistleblower that revealed the cracks slowly breaking the letter delivery service.
“They shared that Great Houghton is served by a team of just two postal workers.
“When one is on leave, on holiday or off sick, they are not replaced.
“The remaining postie is instructed to focus on parcels, and letter delivery is effectively paused.
“They also confirmed that staff morale is at an all-time low, with local management having to apologise for the implementation of a new system of deliveries forced upon them by ‘head office’.”
Coun Osborne has called for proper staffing cover, a return to daily deliveries, and clear communication with residents when service levels fall.
He added: “Earlier this year, after raising the issue directly with Royal Mail, I was pleased to see a marked improvement - one resident even received 12 letters in a single day as the backlog was cleared.
“Unfortunately, it is now clear that the service has slipped back into the same flawed and unacceptable pattern.
“To make matters worse, my previous written complaint to Royal Mail customer services went completely unanswered.
“That silence is a sad indictment of the state our postal service is now in.
“Residents deserve better, and so do the postal workers trying to deliver a service under impossible conditions.
“I will continue to push for the reliable, dignified postal service that residents are entitled to.
“Anyone affected by significant delays or missing important letters is encouraged to contact me so we can build a full picture of the impact locally.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Deliveries in Great Houghton have continued and have not stopped, and we do not recognise claims that letter deliveries have been paused.
“Recent UK-wide figures show 92 per cent of letters are delivered on time and 99.4 per cent within a week, so longer delays are rare, but we recognise there is more to do to improve reliability.
“In Great Houghton, recent disruption has been caused by resourcing pressures.
“Where not all routes can be completed on a given day, deliveries are rotated so customers continue to receive mail as regularly as possible while we work to restore a consistent and reliable service.”