Thank you to everyone who has contacted me regarding Royal Mail’s appalling local service. Residents in many areas of Dulwich and West Norwood constituency have been experiencing severe delays and missing parcels and post in recent weeks.  It is clear that Royal Mail have not had robust contingency plans for sickness absence over the busiest time of year, and services have been stretched far too thinly.  Our posties are working flat out, but they are being let down by the management of Royal Mail.

This disruption has serious consequences for residents and I’ve heard appalling stories of important and irreplaceable documents being lost, medical appointments missed, and bills mounting up because they haven’t been delivered.  I am continuing to raise these issues with Royal Mail and with Ofcom, and to call on Royal Mail urgently to invest in our local services to restore reliability as soon as possible.

Services have been particularly disrupted in the SE22 postcode area, compounded by the decision to close the SE22 delivery office on Silvester Road in 2018.  Along with local Labour councillors, I led the protests against this decision at the time, warning that it would prove impossible for reliable services to be maintained for SE22 residents if staff were based on Highshore Road.  Sadly we have been proved right, and we continue to campaign for Royal Mail to open a new delivery office in a location which is accessible to SE22 residents.

Along with local Labour councillors, I have created a survey to gather evidence on the experiences of local people of postal delivery services, to help us to demonstrate the extent of the problems to Royal Mail and the government. Please tell us about your experience here