Residents on a street in a Welsh town have claimed they’ve not had letters or parcels delivered to their homes in over a month. The people living at Ty Bryn in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, say the last time they received mail was in November.
Ian Penny, who lives on the street, said he only realised he had no mail because it was December and he was expecting his annual Christmas cards. “If it had been another month I might not have noticed,” he said.
Thinking something must have gone wrong, Mr Penny decided to take himself to the local Royal Mail sorting office in Tredegar town centre. When he got there and asked whether there were any letters for him he said they handed him 28 letters and parcels.
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“I couldn’t believe it,” he said, adding when he asked why he hadn’t received the letters – some of which dated back to November – he was told it was due to staff shortages and illness. A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said they were unaware of any issues in the area which would have caused such delays and their records showed everyone should have their mail on time for Christmas.
The sorting office in Tredegar, where Ian visited and received 28 letters and parcels dating back to November -Credit:Ian Penny
Mr Penny recalled: “My wife said to me: ‘We haven’t had any mail since November.’ I thought about it and it was true, we hadn’t. We only realised because we hadn’t received any Christmas cards which we get from all over the UK every year. I went down to the sorting office and they handed over 28 – three weeks of post. Apparently just about everyone else in the area has had it too. They said it was due to a shortage of staff and illness. My friend rang up the other day and they told him the same.
“My concern about it is that it’s the Royal Mail – they’re supposed to deliver post on time. The strange thing about it was we had no correspondence at all informing us they’d got our letters for that long. I’d have thought we’d have had something explaining the situation. What if you were expecting something important, or had warnings through the post? We had two credit cards in the mail. If we hadn’t gone down and asked I expect it might have been after Christmas when we got them.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our posties are continuing to work extremely hard to ensure everyone’s gifts arrive in time for Christmas. At the Tredegar delivery office we can confirm we are on track to clear all letters and parcels by Christmas eve. We have a plan in place with extra deliveries being made today and tomorrow. Any substantial delay reaching into November would be highly unusual and not the experience of those working within the delivery office.” For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.