The Royal Mail is saying that postal deliveries in the W4 post code area have been delayed recently after a surge in demand for its services.
Several people including residents of Chesterfield Road had noticed that they were missing mail so far this month.
One person on the road had not received any letters for two weeks so decided to pay a visit to the Chiswick Delivery Office. He was told that there was a specific problem in his area the postman who had served the area had left and no regular replacement had been found which is likely to affect deliveries.
When staff checked for him, it was found that a week’s worth of post was being held for his address and his whole street had been affected by delays. Staff explained that they had been told to prioritise parcels over post hence the backlog.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said, “We are sorry to hear some residents in Chiswick have experienced delays. Every item of mail is important to us. When delays happen, every effort is made to ensure post is delivered and the reasons behind the delays are addressed.
“The service in the area has recently been impacted by an increase in demand. This demand had returned back to normal by the middle of last week, residents can expect business as usual going forward.
“We encourage anyone with concerns about the delivery of their mail to please contact customer service on 03457 740 740 or via www.royalmail.com.”
It was denied that there is an official policy of prioritising parcels over letters. The spokesperson added, “Royal Mail does not operate a policy of prioritising parcels. We regularly remind colleagues that the delivery, collection and processing of letters and parcels should be treated with equal importance. Due to the amount of space they take up, parcels can restrict the movement of both people and mail in our offices, leading to health and safety issues and delays to other mail. At particularly busy times, such as in the recovery days after a strike, we may occasionally at a local level clear parcels to free up space and address health and safety concerns so that we can keep all mail - including letters - moving efficiently through our network.”
The Royal Mail had planned to close the Chiswick Delivery office in May 2019 and switch operations to the building on Bollo Lane but this proposal has been put on ice after resistance from the unions. The building in which the Chiswick office has been housed has long been the subject of speculation about possible redevelopment. Hounslow Council’s ‘Town Centre Vision’ for Chiswick published last year assumes that the current site of the delivery office and Post Office will be knocked down.
