Royal Mail slammed by Leighton Buzzard councillor who says poor postal service is affecting the whole town

Royal Mail has been slammed by councillors at Leighton-Linslade Town Council as they voted unanimously to call on its management to respond to ongoing issues of poor service.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Grovebury Nico Trenor proposed a motion to the council last week calling on it to remind Royal Mail of its obligations and demand a meeting to discuss the current delivery situation.

Cllr Trenor said: “Over the previous few months, I have heard comments and received emails from residents in my ward about mail not being delivered with the frequency it used to be. Talking to friends around town, I came to the conclusion that this was an issue affecting the whole town, and not just the Grovebury ward.”

This news comes after residents in the towns were left without mail for days – while one disabled pensioner missed vital medical documents due to delivery delays.

Cllr Trenor added: “Residents have complained about NHS appointment letters arriving late, or in some cases never arriving, with residents missing appointments. Insurance communications have reached their recipients when it was already too late to action them, in one case meaning that a driver's vehicle was uninsured for three days without their knowledge.”

“Talking to frontline postal workers, I've heard horror stories about the levels of permanent staffing, with permanent positions being replaced by eventual employees and high levels of agency workers.

“As a councillor, and as a member of the public, I feel we are not receiving the service Royal Mail is obliged to provide. This is the reason I put forward the motion, which my colleagues in the town council unanimously voted for, to request the local Royal Mail management team attends a meeting to discuss the situation and ask that they share their plans to improve matters.

“The council has also called on the local MP, Andrew Selous, as a member of the party in Government, to exert pressure on Royal Mail to fulfil their obligations.”

Ongoing issues already prompted Mr Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire, to bring the matter to Parliament in June, when he told House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt that some residents had not had post for six weeks and despite the ‘excellent efforts’ of postmen and women, the management of the Royal Mail in Leighton Buzzard was ‘failing utterly’.

Mr Selous said: “I have raised the concerns of residents about the reliability of postal deliveries in the town in Parliament, and I have visited the sorting office to talk to managers, trade union representatives and post men and women. I have made the point that building 6,000 additional houses to the east of the town will require more staff.

“When I visited the Dunstable sorting office to raise similar issues this week, I found out that they are in the process of employing 18 additional staff to deliver to Bidwell West and Linmere, north of Houghton Regis, where 8,000 additional houses are being built.”

He added: “I am still trying to find out from Royal Mail management the equivalent number of additional staff being added in Leighton Buzzard, as otherwise it is akin to making bricks without straw.”

Royal Mail has not yet responded to our request for comment.