Over many months I have been speaking to Royal Mail and asking them to take action to improve the reliability of deliveries from Caterham Delivery Office. I have been inundated with emails from constituents who are sometimes only receiving weekly or fortnightly deliveries. That is clearly not good enough.
I really admire the hard work of our postal workers, and I know they are working as hard as they can in difficult circumstances. But they need to be properly supported by Royal Mail.
I am still getting a lot of complaints about deliveries and clearly more needs to be done. I have written to the Chief Executive of Royal Mail to ask what he is going to do to solve this problem – you can read my full letter below.
~
Simon Thompson
Chief Executive
Royal Mail
185 Farringdon Road
London
EC1A 1AA
Dear Simon,
I am writing to you about the level of service my constituents in Caterham are receiving from Caterham Delivery Office in my constituency.
I have raised this issue multiple times with your complaints team, both regarding intermittent regular deliveries and the importance of postal votes arriving in time for the local elections next week. Whilst your team have explained why there are issues at Caterham Delivery Office and what they are doing to try and correct them, it is apparent that there has been no improvement in the level of service.
I understand that the core of the problem is staffing. My office visited the Delivery Office to see if there was anything I could do to help, and I was told that plans were in place to improve staffing levels. I was also told that changes to delivery rounds would lead to a better service by the end of this month. However, the volume of emails I am receiving from constituents in Caterham makes plain that deliveries remain far below an acceptable standard.
I want to be clear in saying that I do not want to place any blame on the staff at the Delivery Office, nor the postmen and women who I know are working as hard as they can in difficult circumstances. That said, my constituents need to know when things are going to get back to normal and how Royal Mail are intending to do that.
It would be very helpful if you could let me know what work you are doing to ensure that my constituents have a reliable delivery service and when normal delivery will resume. If there is anything I can do to help in my capacity as the Member of Parliament for East Surrey, please do not hesitate to let me know.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Claire Coutinho MP
Member of Parliament for East Surrey
