Royal Mail publishes list of 28 Covid blackspots where staff shortages mean post not being delivered

Royal Mail has published a list of 28 areas suffering from limited delivery services because so many staff members have either contracted coronavirus or are self-isolating.

The zones – comprising 27 in England and one in Northern Ireland – include 13 in or near London, while others include Leeds in West Yorkshire, Chelmsford in Essex, Widnes in Cheshire and Margate in Kent.

Some affected residents have complained of not having had post delivered for more than a month, and there are fears that elderly residents will not receive notification when a coronavirus vaccination is available to them.

Valerie Wallbank, from Hainault, in northeast London, told the Ilford Recorder she had not received any mail since 12 December.

“It's quite serious,” she told the paper. “Some people are not bothered because they do everything online, but for some of us it’s quite important.”

The issue has prompted calls, including from MPs and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), for postal workers to be added to the priority list of people receiving coronavirus vaccinations.

In a statement published with the list on its website, Royal Mail said it was “working hard to deliver the most comprehensive and high-quality service we can to all our customers” despite the pandemic and the associated rise in pressure on delivery resources due to increased online shopping.

“The combination of greatly increased uptake of online shopping, and the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, mean that all delivery companies are experiencing exceptionally high volumes,” the statement said.

“Every single parcel and letter is important to us. Despite our best efforts and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards.

“This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices to keep our people and customers safe.  

“In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing our usual level of service as quickly as we can.”

Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, said that while it was understandable Royal Mail was being affected by the virus, the problems were having “a serious knock-on impact on people getting important NHS correspondence, both about their vaccination and also other routine appointments”.

“I have been told locally that Royal Mail are prioritising the delivery of parcels to get the backlog down, but I wonder if there is a way for NHS correspondence to be clearly labelled as such and prioritised for delivery,” Mr Streeting told The Daily Telegraph. “No one wants to see a situation where people are missing their vaccination appointments.”

Royal Mail’s list of areas with limited deliveries:

• Ashford (TN23-TN27)

• Barnsley (S70, S71, S72 and S75)

• Basildon (SS13-SS16)

• Bow (E3)

• Bury St Edmunds (IP28-IP33)

• Chelmsford (CM1-CM3)

• Christchurch (BH23)

• Daventry (NN11)

• Debden (IG7-IG10)

• Enfield (EN1-EN3)

• Grays (RM16-RM20)

• Hampton (TW12)

• Highbury (N5)

• Hornsey (N8)

• Horsham (RH12, RH13)

• Ilford (IG1-IG6)

• Leeds City (LS1-LS5)

• Lewisham (SE13)

• Magherafelt (BT45, BT46)

• Margate (CT7-CT9)

• Rugeley (WS15)

• Somerton (TA11)

• South Ockendon (RM15)

• South Woodford (E18)

• Upper Holloway (N7)

• Wandsworth (SW18)

• Wellington (TA21)

• Widnes (WA8)

On its website, Royal Mail advises people in the affected regions who have been left one of the service’s “Something for you” cards to check its website for the revised opening hours when they can collect the item.

“If we’ve not left a ‘Something for you’ card, and you do not have alternative arrangements in place, we're sorry that your mail will not be available for collection,” the advice says.

The Daily Mail reported that the CWU has called for the government to prioritise postal workers on the list of people in line to receive Covid vaccinations, and that telecoms group BT has also called for its engineers to be given priority in order to help with its call-out capabilities.

Additional reporting by PA