Derry & Strabane Council to request Royal Mail meeting amid frustration over delayed letters and missed appointments

The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) recently stated that, in December, an additional 40 postal workers were transferred from England to the delivery office at Great James Street, in order to help clear the backlog of undelivered post.

Despite this, residents have voiced concern that Christmas cards and important, time-sensitive correspondence, such as medical appointment letters, which were sent in December, are only now being delivered.

At January’s Business and Culture Committee meeting People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin proposed that council write to Royal Mail management, requesting that they meet with council over the issue.

Councillor Harkin also proposed that council invite CWU representatives for a separate meeting.

He noted that during the last meeting between council and Royal Mail management, members were “guaranteed that the issues we were raising would be addressed”.

“They acknowledged the fact that Derry in the North West received a lot of parcels, that they would make plans to hire more workers; also to ensure that the letters went out on time, and they just simply have not followed through on this,” he added.

“People have received important letters a month late over the festive period, so this is very frustrating.

“I want to echo my support for [CWU’s] demands for investment into the processing hub; it may be the case that the Great James Street one isn’t big enough, so there might need to be two in the city. There may need to be a new one altogether.”

DUP alderman Julie Middleton seconded the proposal and said that as a rural representative, her constituents were “hugely frustrated” by missed appointments and late bill notifications.

“Our ‘on the ground’ postal workers are exceptional,” she noted. “I don’t blame them, they’re under serious pressure, but we we must acknowledge that the management have to provide urgent solutions, district wide for all our residents.”

SDLP councillor Sean Mooney said the delays were due to “systemic issues”, while UUP alderman Darren Guy said he and all other members had received complaints form constituents who “have been waiting on mail for months”.

“I know a guy who was waiting on a cheque from Claudy. He lives in Drumahoe, and it took 42 days to arrive in his house,” Alderman Guy said.

“That shows the situation we face because the mail’s that bad. “It’s not good enough.”

Sinn Féin councillor Aisling Hutton said that Sinn Féin MLA, Pádraig Delargy, has called for a formal investigation by Ofcom and the Consumer Council, in relation to the “persistent letter failures”.

She concluded: “The reports of the worsening backlog and reduced overtime, it’s all there, it’s all to be investigated, but this is all stemming from management decisions, understaffing, workload pressures and structural issues at the sorting office, rather than a failure with a postal workers themselves.”

“It’s important that this investigation is done properly." “I am happy to agree with Shaun that we all need to get Royal Mail back in the room, because it’s impacting the people in this city and district massively.”

Addressing similar concerns this week, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Christmas is our busiest time of year, with volumes more than doubling as more people shop online than ever before. We’re grateful to our posties who worked incredibly hard throughout the festive period to deliver for customers. Data shows that nationally more than 99% of First Class and Second Class letters and parcels posted by the last recommended dates were delivered by Christmas Eve. Where there were localised delays, teams acted quickly to minimise disruption and keep services moving.”