Calling for urgent action over local post delay

Alistair Strathern, MP for Hitchin, has written to Royal Mail demanding immediate action to address months of unreliable postal deliveries that have caused significant disruption for residents across Hitchin and the surrounding towns and villages.

In recent months, the MPs office has received a surge of emails from constituents reporting repeated delivery failures. These include missed hospital and GP appointments due to delayed NHS letters, disruption to time sensitive correspondence, missed roadworks notifications, and widespread issues with seasonal post over the Christmas period. For many residents, these problems are not isolated incidents but part of a sustained pattern of poor service.

After Mr Strathern raised these challenges with the Minister responsible for Postal Services, Blair McDougall, Royal Mail bosses were hauled into parliament to discuss the issues raised.

In his letter to Royal Mail, Strathern highlights the serious consequences of these failures, particularly for older residents who rely on timely postal services to stay connected to healthcare providers and their wider community. As he notes, “Across Hitchin and the surrounding villages, a dependable post service is essential for quality of life; it is not a luxury, but a necessary public service.”

Strathern has asked Royal Mail to urgently clarify the scale of the problem, including:

• The proportion of post rounds being set aside on a typical day at the Letchworth and Stevenage depots

• How long individual rounds may go without a delivery

• What mitigations are in place for time sensitive post such as NHS letters

• What overtime restrictions have been implemented and when they will be lifted

• He also raised concerns about the impact of cost cutting measures, including overtime bans and service limits, which appear to be contributing to worsening delivery performance.

Commenting on the situation, Alistair Strathern MP said:

“Reliable postal delivery is a fundamental service that my constituents are entitled to rely upon.

“Missed NHS appointments, delayed correspondence, and weeks long gaps in delivery are simply unacceptable.

“Royal Mail has a service obligation, and with that comes a responsibility to ensure that communities like ours are not left behind.

“They must act to urgently address this, and if they fail, Ofcom and the Government must ensure consequences follow.”

Strathern has urged Royal Mail to set out clear, tangible steps to restore proper service levels and has committed to working with them to secure both immediate improvements and long-term reliability for residents.

Blair McDougall, Minister responsible for Postal Services said:

“I know lots of residents have raised issues with postal services in Hitchin, Shefford and the surrounding area.

“It’s not good enough. Thanks to the issues that Alistair Strathern MP raised with me I called in Royal Mail to meet and make clear things need to improve.”