Medical concerns after late postal deliveries in Sunderland street

A councillor and the residents she represents say they have had poor service from the Royal Mail in the weeks leading up to Christmas, with potential medical concerns.

Residents of Thornhill Gardens, in Sunderland City Council's St Michael's ward, are represented by Cllr Adele Graham-King.

They say the problems go beyond the usual Christmas rush and that in the 20 days after November 24 only two deliveries were made; on December 8 and 14.

Of most concern is the late arrival of one resident's medication and letters to patients from the NHS.

Cllr Graham-King has been affected herself with the late arrival of a bank card and is still waiting for other deliveries.

She said: "I appreciate there's a national issue regarding deliveries and coverage. But on Thornhill Gardens we seem to have a particular problem with Royal Mail.

"From 24th November to 8th December we didn't have a delivery at all. It's recorded on the Royal Mail's system as an 'incomplete round'.

"They apologised and registered the complaint. I bumped into a postman who said the only deliveries being made were tracked parcels. Standard first or second class mail doesn't seem to be being delivered. The Royal Mail's Escalation Team said that was basically correct.

"One resident has contacted me about a (medical) appointment letter that hasn't arrived. The NHS use Royal Mail for their letters.

"I had two reminders from the bank to activate my new bank card, but it hadn't arrived.

"A lot of elderly people rely on Royal Mail."

A first class stamp currently costs £1.25.

The Echo put Cllr Graham-King's comments to Royal Mail and asked about the problems and how they prioritise deliveries. They did not directly refer to tracked mail.

A spokesperson replied: “I can confirm that deliveries were made to Thornhill Gardens today (December 14) and there is no backlog.

"There have been delays over the last couple of weeks due to the volume of both parcels and letters being sent in the run up to Christmas.

"On occasion there has been a need to deliver parcels first for health and safety reasons. We have recently hired additional staff and are confident that normal daily deliveries will resume.”