Watford's Royal Mail postal service in chaos claim staff and

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9 ... customers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Watford's postal service has been left in chaos by a new delivery system introduced by Royal Mail, say staff and customers.

Residents have complained for several weeks of missed deliveries with some claiming they have not received post for up to six days.

Staff at the Ascot Road depot, in Watford Business Park, claim planned redundancies have put too much pressure on postmen, leaving some to deal with an extra 200 deliveries on top of their usual round.

Meanwhile, Watford MP Richard Hharrington has been bombarded with complaints from residents and has organised a meeting with Royal Mail managers later this month to address the problem.

Royal Mail insists post is being sent out to each round every day, but admitted that some postmen have had to deal with extra drops as the changes are implemented.

One member of staff sent the Watford Observer photographs from inside the depot, which, he claims, show post that has been left on the sorting floor for more than five days.

He said: “Royal Mail is sacrificing service for the sake of saving money. The customers are bearing the brunt of what is happening in Watford and the surrounding areas.

“Some areas of Oxhey Village have not had post for six days – it is still sitting in the depot.

“They’re rushing the changes through. Leaflets have been sent out telling customers there will be a minor disruption – this is not minor, it is a massive problem.

“We simply can’t sort the amount of mail they are expecting us to and get it out in time - it is not getting any better.”

Royal Mail said it was making way for voluntary redundancies at its Watford depot and that the number would reach into double figures.

The criticism comes as the postal service prepares to transfer much of its operations to Hemel Hempstead in October.

Customer Steven Holley, of Pound Field, said: “We went away for ten days and came back to two letters – we’re a family of five – we’re usually bombarded.

“I rang the depot and one postman said that none of them know what is going on and that they’re just trying to get through it. I can understand that they want to put in a new system but at least make sure it works.”

David Baldwin, of Hilfield Lane, Aldenham, added: “It is ludicrous. My wife relies on the post for prescriptions but we were told we might only get post every other day.”

Royal Mail spokesperson Sally Hopkins said: "We apologise to our customers in Watford for the disruption they may have experienced recently to their mail services. This has been caused by the changes we have made to our delivery practices.

"We informed customers that we are continuing to deliver in the morning and for a longer period during the day.

"Many customers still receive their mail by lunchtime but the time customers receive their mail depends on where they live on the new delivery route. This may be later or possibly earlier than they are used to.

"We wish to reassure customers that we are working hard to resolve these issues. Mail is going out for delivery every day and we are making every effort to ensure all deliveries are completed that same day."

[Stormproof]

looking at the photos in that article I can't see a massive problem. One thing I have noticed is that they've a lot of room around their frames, can't even get a york down the aisle in my office, the frames are that rammed together and under their frames is nice and tidy and not stacked up with D2D's.

[jmcg]

i can assure you there is plenty of undelivered work in that office............

[jessicarabbit]

I hope the photographer is not caught I do believe that is a 'Gross Misconduct Charge' taking photos to show your employer in a bad light without permission...