Mail delays impact vulnerable residents - council

Councillors in Telford want Ofcom to hold Royal Mail accountable for delivery delays in the area.

A motion has been put forward for the issue to be discussed at the next full Telford & Wrekin Council meeting on 16 July.

Conservative councillor Rachael Tyrrell, who put forward the motion, said Ofcom should consider the impact on vulnerable residents and people who are from digitally excluded, rural and hard-to-reach communities.

The motion said Royal Mail should be held "fully accountable for meeting its universal service obligations and quality-of-service targets."

Borough council deputy leader Richard Overton has written to bosses at Royal Mail over the postal service in the St Georges ward.

He was told that there have been staff absences, but new posties are being trained.

Overton said: "Residents shouldn't have to go to the sorting office to get their mail, and we shouldn't be missing appointments or vital letters waiting for them to be delivered."

A recent parish council by-election in Hadley and Leegomery saw Telford & Wrekin Council draft in its own teams to hand deliver some polling cards.

Even though poll cards are not essential to actually voting, councillors have been concerned that the same issues may affect next May's all out borough elections.

Conservative councillor Stuart Parr said that people had received late payment charges on bills, and had missed medical appointments because of delays.

"Royal Mail have played it down," he added.

The issue has also been picked up by The Wrekin Tory MP Mark Pritchard, he said.

Councillor Parr added that it would not be feasible for the council to get employees to deliver polling cards across the borough if problems emerged.

Royal Mail said it recognised the impact delays can have, particularly where items are time-sensitive.

A statement said: "We have published an Improvement Plan, which sets out the actions we are taking to improve reliability, and we publish our quality of service performance every quarter.

"Our latest results show that more than 92 per cent of letters arrive on time and over 99 per cent are delivered within a week.

"While we are making progress, we know there is more to do.

"We remain focused on improving reliability for all customers through targeted support for delivery offices, strengthened daily performance management and continued investment in our network."

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