A fed-up customer says mail bosses are ‘gaslighting’ the people of the city over late post after several important documents, including a hospital appointment letter, arrived two weeks late.
Derek Barnard has even resorted to visiting the Royal Mail delivery office in Wainwright Road, Worcester, to collect his post because it is so unreliable and said the people of Worcester were being ‘gaslit and fobbed off’ over late post.
However, the last time he did so, he (and four other people) discovered the delivery office was closed, with one man ‘effing and chuffing’ when he found out as frustrations boiled over.
Mr Barnard said he and other customers found the opening office times on the sign were ‘completely contradictory’ to those at the delivery office itself. He also said the binmen came to his door to tell him the date of the bin collection had changed because they knew he was not getting regular post.
CLOSED: The Royal Mail delivery office in Worcester was closed when Derek Barnard and other customers arrived (Image: Supplied)
Mr Barnard said several important letters arrived in the post on July 17, including one from the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust dated July 2.
The 66-year-old has highlighted issues with the post at his four-bedroom detached house at Crowcroft Drive on the new Taylor Wimpey estate off the A44 Bromyard Road in St John’s, Worcester. Worcester MP Tom Collins and Cllr Sarah Murray visited the sorting office on Friday June 24 to discuss the issue.
Both said Royal Mail maintained that there is no wider issue with postal deliveries, which both Mr Collins and Cllr Murray said did not reflect what residents were telling them
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Mr Barnard had previously raised concerns when a condolence card from the vets, sent in a timely fashion, after the death of his beloved dog Barney arrived five weeks late.
Meanwhile, he said he would have missed his hospital appointment if he did not have the NHS app.
“Thankfully, I have everything in an app. You can’t rely on the paperwork because of the post,” he said. Mr Barnard said he was especially concerned for older people who ‘don’t always have the luxury of having the internet or apps and rely on the post’.
SIGN: But Derek Barnard says the advertised opening times for the Royal Mail delivery office listed online do not match the actual opening times (Image: Supplied)
Other documents to arrive late included bank statements and pension information from TSB, Barclays and Aegon. He has also argued that proving your legal status required a postal address and that correspondence like speeding fines and parking tickets, which needed to be paid promptly, would still arrive in the post, not via email or an app.
Mr Barnard said four people arrived at the office in Wainwright Road in Worcester on Monday, July 27 only to find it was closed.
Online information shows that the delivery office is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday.
However, information on the board outside shows it is open 8am to 10am on Mondays and between 8am and 10am and again between 4pm and 6pm, Tuesday to Friday.
CONTRADICTION: The advertised opening times for the Royal Mail delivery office in Worcester do not match those on the signs says Derek Barnard (Image: Supplied)
The sign also indicates the delivery office is open 8am to noon on Saturday and closed on Sunday.
He said the issue of late post had become so bad that the binmen knocked on his door to tell him they were changing the date of his collection day.
“One of them said ‘I recognise you from the Worcester News. I need to tell you that we’re changing the days that we ollect your bins. You would’ve received this in the post, so I’ll leave it there’,” he said.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We will raise Mr Barnard’s specific concerns about deliveries to his address with the local team.
“We continue to deliver mail across Worcester every day. However, individual routes can occasionally be affected by short-term local issues, and where this happens our teams work to deliver any outstanding mail as quickly as possible.”
In a previous statement, a spokesperson said: “We welcomed Tom Collins MP and Cllr Sarah Murray to Worcester Delivery Office and gave them an open and honest view of the local operation, including the challenges facing the team.
“Mail received at Worcester Delivery Office continues to be delivered to local addresses. At times, individual routes may be affected by short-term local issues such as sickness absence, and where this happens our teams work to clear any outstanding mail as quickly as possible.
“Meeting elected representatives helps us understand residents’ concerns, investigate specific cases and explain the realities of the local service.”
