Royal Mail Delivery Delays Affect Chester and More Than 100 UK Postcodes
Customers in Chester and several nearby areas may experience slower post as Royal Mail deals with local staffing and operational pressures.
By Chester Standard
Royal Mail customers in Chester are being warned of possible delivery delays as disruption affects more than 100 postcode areas across England and Wales.
The postal operator’s latest service update lists Chester Delivery Office among the locations currently experiencing the greatest pressure, covering CH1, CH2, CH3, CH4, CH88 and CH99 postcodes.
Several other delivery offices serving areas in and around Cheshire and the wider region are also on the affected list.
Heswall Delivery Office is experiencing disruption across CH31, CH60 and CH61, while New Ferry covers affected addresses in CH32, CH62 and CH63.
Mold Delivery Office, which serves CH7, is also listed, along with Newton-le-Willows Delivery Office covering WA3 and WA12.
Royal Mail says it normally aims to deliver to every address for which it has mail six days a week, but this is temporarily not possible in a small number of local offices.
The company says delays can be caused by high levels of staff sickness, resourcing difficulties or other local operational factors.
Where services are affected, deliveries may be rotated between rounds in an effort to prevent individual households from going for prolonged periods without post.
Royal Mail says it is also providing targeted support to offices experiencing problems in an attempt to restore normal service as quickly as possible.
The disruption is concentrated at local delivery offices rather than across Royal Mail’s national transport network.
Its latest update says air services, road services and mail centres all operated to schedule over the weekend, meaning the current problems are primarily affecting the final stage of delivery to homes and businesses.
The affected offices currently include locations across England and Wales ranging from Chester and Heswall to Bedford, Shrewsbury, Rugby, Margate and parts of South Wales.
Not every property within a listed postcode will necessarily experience a delay, as disruption can vary between individual delivery rounds.
Customers expecting important letters or parcels are therefore advised to allow additional time where their postcode falls within an affected delivery office.
Royal Mail has apologised for the disruption and says it will continue to update its list of the offices experiencing the most significant problems as local services recover.
Customers who have received a “Something for you” card can still arrange collection or redelivery through the normal Royal Mail services while the temporary disruption continues.