Backlog Of One Million At SW16

[johnnyp]

A million letters and parcels could be held at Streatham Delivery Office in the huge backlog which has reached crisis point since the last month's strike action.

This means thousands of Streatham and Norbury residents, who are all served by the office in Prentis Road, have been left without crucial mail and are subject to sporadic deliveries.

The worrying situation comes weeks after the official postal strike over pensions and pay ended. Wildcat strikes continued after this at the Streatham office.

Greg Charles, branch secretary of south-west London Postal Communication Workers' Union (CWU), said the number of postal items held at the office could now reach the million mark.

"The Prentis Road office is one of the worst affected in the country and has not been able to recover since the strikes," he said. "I've heard horror stories of people only getting two deliveries in four weeks."

He said the union is currently in talks with Royal Mail to agree on overtime to clear the backlog and to discuss health and safety issues. "We are doing our damnedest to sort it out," he added.

Paulo Dias, from Norbury Crescent, has logged three complaints with Royal Mail about the situation. "I've been expecting the contract for the purchase of my new house since early October, " he said. "I'm really suffering because I can't move house until I receive it. My mortgage offer expires early next month and I'm running out of time to exchange and complete the purchase.

"There's such a huge backlog and the workers cannot cope with the chaos inside the office," he continued. "I want everyone to complain to the Royal Mail and demand workers are paid overtime to clear the problem."

A Royal Mail spokesman apologised for the delay in clearing the backlog, saying it was due to the unofficial strikes which followed the official ones, as well as strained industrial relations. "Customers can be assured we are doing all we can to clear the remaining few backlogs as soon as possible and this has included drafting in extra management volunteers and reserve staff," he said.

But Chris Nicholson, Streatham's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman, said: "Given that the strike finished a few week weeks ago it's completely unacceptable mail services should still be trying to get back to normal. "