Households in Cricklewood claim they have been left weeks without receiving any mail, as they patiently waited to get “critical” medical letters.
In fact one resident who lived in the area for over 30 years called the delays “outrageous” and says neighbours have been left without communication from Royal Mail.
It is believed the problem stems from the Cricklewood Delivery Office on Claremont Road.
James Wickham, who lived in Cricklewood Lane for 45 years, said: “We have to go to the sorting office and collect our own mail, and apparently this Is going on until May because they are short of staff.”
He was waiting to get back important medical letters from his wife, and was baffled when he waited about two weeks without letter.
“If they [neighbours] don’t get them, the hospital cancels it [an appointment] and think you don’t want to know,” he said.
The man added: “It’s disgraceful to be honest, nobody was told about any issues.”
Mr Wickham said that the service normally is good in the area, but said “God knows” when asked how long he would have been left waiting had he not taken the initiative to go to the Royal Mail depot himself.
However he added many aren’t aware that they could go to their local sorting office to check if there are any letters there.
Samantha Rudkin, who has lived in Cricklewood Lane for over 30 years, said there was a “wad” of letters when her daughter went to Claremont Road to collect the mail.
Ms Rudkin explained she has been going through important surgery recently and it was vital that she would be in the loop with any hospital letters addressed to her.
However there was an estimated three-week gap without any post from the Royal Mail.
“It hasn’t been communicated to us, there was no letter or email,” she said.
It was only when a neighbour knocked on her door and offered to collect her post that she realised there was an issue: “I didn’t think anything of it, I thought maybe there’s a postal strike. It was only this week I thought hold on a minute, this is a bit weird.”
She called the lack of communication “outrageous” and added many elderly residents would either not know or not be able to go to the depot themselves.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear that some customers have experienced delays in the Cricklewood area.
"Deliveries are taking place six days a week when there is mail to be delivered.
“If and when a particular local delivery route experiences delays, we rotate deliveries to prioritise that route the next day, so that no customers should experience delays for more than one day.
“Anyone who has concerns about the delivery of their mail should contact Royal Mail customer service on 03457 740 740 or via www.royalmail.com.”
