MP delivers broadside to Royal Mail's boss (From The Argus)

MP delivers broadside to Royal Mail's boss

7:00pm Saturday 31st March 2012 in Sort It Out By Bill Gardner

A Brighton and Hove MP has told the boss of Royal Mail that delivery times in the city are “unacceptable.”

Simon Kirby, MP for Kemptown, wrote to Moya Greene after The Argus yesterday launched the ‘Sort It Out’ campaign to put pressure on Royal Mail bosses.

Since cost-cutting changes to delivery routes were introduced last month, hundreds of furious residents and businesses have waited weeks for parcels to arrive.

Mr Kirby said: “I have written to the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail regarding the delays that have been reported.

“In my letter, I was clear that these reported delays are unacceptable and I reiterated my opinion that the residents of Kemp Town, and elsewhere, who may be waiting for vital documents or parcels, have a right to have their post delivered in a reasonable period of time.

“Clearly in the examples we have seen, this appears to have not been the case.”

On Wednesday, The Argus revealed 15 skips full of unsorted parcels were lying in the North Road sorting office in Brighton.

A source at the depot revealed staff morale was low because management demands were making delivery rounds impossible to complete.

Within 24 hours of launching ‘Sort It Out’, The Argus was deluged with calls and emails from furious residents and businesses eager to join our campaign. One furious resident was Gill Mitchell, leader of the Labour group on Brighton and Hove City Council.

She told The Argus that she had ordered a birthday gift for a friend with a first class stamp to arrive last week, only for the birthday to pass by without the gift arriving.

She said: “They told me it would definitely come by Thursday but I’m still waiting.

“I have certainly been inconvenienced but that’s nothing to the problems faced by residents and businesses who rely on the Royal Mail to deliver crucial parcels on time.”

Another angry resident who lives in the BN2 area said her deliveries were “all over the place.”

“We don’t get post for days and then, sometimes, we end up with two deliveries in one day with heaps of mail, ” she said.

“Our post was always delivered regularly and on time, now it is all over the place. The service has def- initely gone horribly downhill.”

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “We apologise to customers who may have experienced a slight delay in the delivery of their packets and parcels this week. We are aiming to deliver all delayed mail by Saturday.

“We are working closely with our people and the union in the office as we complete the operational changes.”