Royal Mail Sheffield deliveries: Stocksbridge services delayed as people elsewhere claim mail does not arrive UK News

The Stocksbridge office, in the S36 postcode area, is one of 25 across the UK and the only one in Sheffield where the Royal Mail announced on Tuesday 14 December that services were disrupted. But clients elsewhere in town say they haven’t had any jobs for more than a week in some cases, despite bosses not acknowledging there’s a problem there.

Royal Mail said services at Stocksbridge and the other 24 offices were affected due to issues such as staff needing to self-isolate due to Covid.

He said: “Deliveries are operating normally in most of the country today. We aim to deliver to all addresses for which we have mailed, six days a week.

“In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as Covid-related self-isolation, high levels of sickness absence, resources or other local factors.

“In these cases, we will alternate deliveries to minimize delays for individual customers. We also provide targeted support to these offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high level our clients would normally receive.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. We will regularly inform customers of the most affected offices.

A customer in the Gleadless S12 zip code area contacted The Star to complain that they had not received any mail for over a week, while waiting for a number of items.

The resident, who requested anonymity, said he had not received any mail for seven days until Saturday, December 4, when he received 35 items in his mailbox at a time, and that he hadn’t had anything since.

He said he tried to call both the Pit Lane office and the Royal Mail customer service hotline without success.

“Royal Mail officials are making reassuring noises that everything is under control when it is clearly a long way from being under control,” he said.

“When I got all the mail the other Saturday, I checked the dates on the postmarks and things had taken about 12 days to arrive, so there’s a problem somewhere.

“My outgoing mail, which was sent to addresses across the country, all reached its destination, so it’s only deliveries that seem to be affected here.

“Royal Mail should be honest with people who wait for mail. If they explained that they don’t have enough staff because of Covid, I think people would understand.

“I’m sorry for the posties because year after year they do a hell of a good job, but I’m not sorry for the management of Royal Mail as they should have seen this happen and taken steps to prevent it. “

Royal Mail confirmed to the BBC this week that its staff’s absence levels were almost double those seen in 2018 before the Covid pandemic, but insisted deliveries were made normally in most areas. country.

However, a BBC source said he had a “close knowledge” of the operations, which was described as “horrible” due to the number of people sick and the increased demand as Christmas approaches.

The Star has contacted Royal Mail for a response.