Royal Mail backlog hits Hastings Christmas post

Staffing issues at Royal Mail's sorting office in Hastings has led to a backlog of undelivered letters and parcels in the run up to Christmas.
Backed-up post at Royal Mail's delivery office in Hastings.Backed-up post at Royal Mail's delivery office in Hastings.
Backed-up post at Royal Mail's delivery office in Hastings.

After questions from this newspaper, Royal Mail confirmed this week that Hastings residents could be experiencing delays to their post as a result of an ‘unusually high’ level of sick absences at its Braybrooke Road delivery office.

This newspaper approached the postal service for comment after a source connected to the sorting office provided evidence of a severe backlog and claimed that ‘thousands’ of letters and parcels are currently going undelivered.

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A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to any customers in Hastings who may have experienced some delays in receiving their mail recently. Unfortunately we have recently had some unusually high levels of sick absence in Hastings delivery office.

“Staff have been working extremely hard to deliver all mail to customers as we are aware how important deliveries are to our customers at this time of year.

“We are doing our utmost to ensure that all mail in our network by the last recommended posting dates will be delivered in time for Christmas. Customers concerned about deliveries can contact our customer service team for further information on 03457 740740 or go to www.RoyalMail.com/serviceupdates.”

The post service reports that it is also facing challenges at sorting offices elsewhere in the country due to the “high volumes of seasonal mail”.

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As a result, Royal Mail says, post sent to addresses in parts of South Wales, Essex, Anglia, South Yorkshire and the OX, RG and SN postcode areas is likely to be delivered later than originally planned.