Post delayed by strikes in UK
Some letters and parcels are taking up to two weeks to be delivered as the postal strikes continue to bring chaos to the UK postal industry, according to postal union sources, reports The Daily Telegraph. The article continues:
The news came as eBay, the online auction site, warned its customers to expect delays of between two and three days because of the strike which has caused millions of letters to be piled up in delivery offices and mail centres across the country.
A consumer watchdog also called for banks and building societies not to levy penalty charges on customers whose payments are held up in the post.
As many as 20m letters and parcels are now waiting to be cleared after a series of rolling strikes by some 20,000 Royal Mail employees which have been hitting the network since July.
Reports have claimed that there are credit card statements and utility bills being held up, which can lead to penalty charges and threats of legal action. Hospital appointment letters could also have been delayed.
Union sources say that informal sampling had found that some parcels and letters are being held up in the backlog in the mail system for up to a fortnight.
One official said: “We are finding that it is taking between 11 and 14 days for post to come through.” Typically around 55m items of post are sent through the system every day.
The industrial action has hit towns and cities across the country. This week the stoppages have been concentrated in Cambridgeshire on Monday [14 September], followed by Middlesbrough on Tuesday [15 September] and then London on Wednesday [16 September] before moving to Scotland later this week.
Yesterday eBay advised any buyers or sellers using its website “should be aware of potential delays in delivery of mail” in the strike hit areas, adding: “This dispute includes Royal Mail drivers, meaning cross-country mail services will be severely disrupted.
“[Our] best advice for eBay sellers is to notify customers that there will likely be delays to their purchases arriving. Expect a minimum of two to three days delay for mail in these districts although it may well take until the following week for services to resume to normal.”
Consumer Focus, the official watchdog which looks after the interests of the Royal Mail’s customers, call for banks and financial bodies not to overcharge customers if payments are delayed in the post.
Robert Hammond, a spokesman for Consumer Focus, said: “Banks could show a bit of flexibility to their customers – let’s face it they could do with some good PR at the moment.
“To avoid additional charges, those expecting bills should call the company in advance and arrange an alternative way to pay – such as down the phone, online or at a bank or post office.”
Royal Mail has attacked the decision to press ahead with the national strike ballot as ‘wholly irresponsible’, as talks between senior management and the union leadership were still being held.
A Royal Mail spokesman said:”The amount of mail delayed by their [the CWU’s] action is well less than a quarter of the normal daily mailbag with more than 90% of our postmen and women working as usual every day.
“So the CWU claim that the effect is greater than the national strike of 2007 is just nonsense.”
