Sheffield post: Neighbours waiting on prescriptions and legal papers 'have had no post for 10 days'

Bank cards, legal documents, mortgage papers and medication are just some of the critical items that haven’t landed on residents’ doormats.

Affected streets include Albert Road, Heeley; Burcot Road, Brook Road and Beeton Road, all in Meersbrook, among others.

One woman affected is Mavis Kirkham, of Albert Road, who discovered on June 6 how she is due to receive a new, now severely delayed bank card, when she went to use her old one in a shop and found it had expired.

She told The Star: “I was stood there in the Beanies Wholefoods unable to pay. Thankfully, they know me there and said I could pay next week, but if I had been in a supermarket what would I have done then?

“I called the bank who told me my cash card had expired and they had sent me a new one – on May 26. It was then I realised I haven’t had any post at all for about 10 days.”

Another woman, Miranda Allen, of Burcot Road, said: “A neighbour posted in the group chat asking if anyone had had any post and we realised no, none of us had.

“It’s not affected me but there are people in the neighbourhood waiting on prescriptions, mortgage papers or legal documents that need to be signed with a deadline.

“I think it’s outrageous. It’s a service people have paid for. You can’t just stop people’s post."

One resident said they had been advised by their postie they can still collect their post in person at Woodseats Sorting Office – but this has not been confirmed by Royal Mail, nor if residents can collect post on behalf of other people such as elderly or disabled friends and family.

Ward councillor for Gleadless Valley Marieanne Elliott told The Star she understands there are ‘staffing issues’ affecting Woodseats Sorting Office, with as many as two dozen staff currently absent.

The councillor has been delivering leaflets to Woodseats residents to make them aware of the issue.

She said: “I met a post person whilst delivering my letters to Burcot Road in Meersbrook. He was delivering mail this morning after I visited Woodseats sorting office yesterday (June 6).

“But the situation is not resolved – this postal worker has been taken off his usual round. This will result in problems with workload as his usual round still needs to be covered. This is clearly unsustainable.

“The Royal Mail employees have been given more work to do and there are less of them, it's awful for them. Royal Mail must have contingency strategies for dealing with workload issues - they put them in place during the run up to Christmas - so why aren't they reacting properly now?”

Royal Mail – which is currently under investigation for missing delivery targets – responded: “We are very sorry to residents who have experienced delays in Sheffield. We have no bigger priority beyond improving our quality of service, and we are committed to restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.

“There has been some disruption to deliveries within the area, however every day, efforts are taken locally to ensure these delays are kept to a minimum, and those who do not receive their mail are prioritised the next day.

“Across our business we have plans in place to drive service levels and reduce absence at our delivery offices, we hope and expect to see further progress in the coming months.”