Croydon residents only just getting their Christmas post – almost a month late

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

Post is taking a month to arrive for some residents in Croydon.

The delivery office in South Croydon is one of more than 50 across the country that has been affected by covid staff shortages.

Royal Mail warned that those living in Croydon could face delays.

One resident took to Twitter to complain on January 15 writing: “Another Christmas card arrived today! Postage mark says it was sent on December 16th.

“It was coming from Wales not the Australian outback – what the hell is going on with post in Croydon!?! It’s been like this for nearly two years now.”

Another said: “South Croydon residents are experiencing the worst Royal Mail service ever because they refused to bring in extra staff over Christmas. In some cases letters/parcels are a month late.”

Several others on Twitter have complained to Royal Mail that the tracking of their post stops at Croydon sorting office – one claims their post has been there for a week.

Writing on Facebook last week, MP for Croydon Central Sarah Jones said she had been contacted by residents concerned about the staff shortages.

She said she has written to Royal Mail to investigate the issue.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.

“In the local area, we are experiencing some delays to service due to high levels of sickness absence, Covid related self-isolation and resourcing issues.

“We apologise to any customers who may have experienced delays to their mail. We have been working hard to get our levels of service back to normal as soon as possible.”

Royal Mail said it recruited “thousands of seasonal workers” over the festive period to help sort Christmas post.