Wrekin MP contacts Ofcom over 'not good enough' post delays in Newport
Ofcom is being contacted over delays in post for Newport residents by the town's MP.
Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for The Wrekin, has updated residents on their complaints about ongoing delays to post deliveries in the area.
The delays in Newport were highlighted before Christmas, but have continued into the New Year, with Mr Pritchard raising the issue in parliament and directly with Royal Mail.
Speaking earlier this month Royal Mail acknowledged delays in the area, but said it did not recognise suggestions that post had been delayed by more than two weeks.
Now Mr Pritchard has highlighted constituents complaining of delayed medical letters, along with other important financial and legal documents.
Responding to the MP's post on social media one resident detailed how he had received 12 pieces of mail on Friday, January 16 - with dates on them stretching back to December 24, and January 9 for the most recent.
Mr Pritchard, who spoke out on the issue again on Monday, January 19, said he was giving the Royal Mail until Wednesday, January 21, to demonstrate improvements in the situation.
He said: "I've given Royal Mail a few days to sort out the backlog of mail and to really investigate what's going on, why so many of my constituents haven't received letter since Christmas.
"Now a lot of the e-mails I have received, there have been missed hospital appointments, there have been people waiting anxiously for the results of medical tests, some of them cancer sufferers, and there have been other people that have been impacted by not receiving financial documents and also legal documents, this really is having an impact in people's lives.
"I am particularly concerned around those that are waiting for correspondence from either hospitals or GPs or other medical documentation and information and I have already decided as a result of the experience of my constituents since Christmas, that notwithstanding having written to the Royal Mail Minister and the Government - I haven't received a response yet, hopefully it will come by e-mail - that I am going to now write Ofcom, who are the regulator and oversee the Royal Mail.
"They will have the power to fine the Royal Mail if they don't hit their first and second class letter targets as the royal mail were fined last year.
"I think Ofcom need to know about it, the ministers office now knows about it and of course the royal mail knows about it because I met with them last Wednesday."
Mr Pritchard said it is essential that the situation is resolved - and if not he would be raising the issue further.
He said: "The Royal Mail really do need to get this sorted. But I will be writing to Ofcom, this is not good enough, and from Wednesday onwards if there has still not been an improved service for my constituents then I will be raising it again in parliament through a different way and a different platform but it will be raised at the very highest level.
"Royal Mail, speaking directly to you, this is not good enough, it has to be investigated and most of all it has to be resolved for my constituents. It is causing huge anxiety, huge concern, and of course it is having a direct impact on people's lives as they wait anxiously for paperwork and for documentations, for letters that contain important information, not least around people's health."
Last week, Telford MP Shaun Davies also raised the issue, saying his constituents had been experiencing similar problems, with postal workers privately telling him that they had been instructed to prioritise parcel deliveries over letters.
Addressing the issue earlier this month Royal Mail said: "Recent severe weather conditions and an increase in sickness absence have had an impact on deliveries to some addresses in the last week. We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and our posties are going above and beyond to ensure daily deliveries resume as quickly as possible.”
