Eastbourne and Willingdon MP Caroline Ansell has been reassured by Royal Mail managers that services in the town will improve after she visited the delivery office recently.
Caroline’s own postbag has been bulging with complaints about deliveries with letters and parcels lost or delayed.
She met with managers to discuss the issues and how it is responding to a rise in work and staffing problems.
“The Royal Mail has been hit with the same dynamic as any and every other sector with covid-related absence and, of course, it also experienced a significant uplift in the number and nature of items it handles these last two years,” said Caroline.
“Many local people have contacted me to express their concerns over the service.
“There were those anxiously waiting to hear from loved ones, for job offers, others waiting for cancer results to cite only a few of the cases I handled. We rely on this service and its importance was made all the more real and visible by the disruption.
“However, I have been told the backlog has been addressed and the local service is back on track and fast moving towards the standards it wants to provide.
“The delivery office is recruiting and expects to be back at full strength. It also confirmed it has managed to reduce delivery times on letters to 48 hours with parcels being delivered daily.
“This is good news as I know the strain it has placed on people waiting for post as they have shared their stories with me.”
Caroline also raised the issue in parliament recently and added she hoped new systems and investment will now provide more resilience going forward.
