The company said deliveries and collections should be taking place across most of the UK today but admitted some people would be waiting longer to receive letters and parcels. It blamed an increase in online shopping for the extra and higher-than-normal absences for the delays. Some frustrated customers complained Christmas presents had still failed to arrive.
One said: “It’s desperately disappointing. Christmas and birthday presents for family I haven’t been able to see. So much money wasted and all faith in Royal Mail gone.”
Another said: “Any chance you could get round to locating my parcel? I mean as Christmas presents go, it’s pretty damn late now. But all the same, at least being able to return them would be a New Years bonus.”
And another tweeted: “Lol. Royal Mail delivered my Christmas presents today!”
And another tweeted: “Very annoyed right now. Ordered an item for a birthday gift, paid extra for 24hr tracked which should have been delivered on the 30th December but still waiting for my delivery.
“Whilst appreciate you are busy you cannot keep charging extra for a service you cannot deliver.”
But other customers were more sympathetic.
One tweeted: “I understand the Maidstone sorting office had to close due to a covid outbreak so postal delays should be no surprise.”
“Despite our best efforts and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards.
“This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices.
“In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing our usual level of service as quickly as we can.”
