'I've had no post delivered for six weeks'

A woman who has resorted to going to a sorting office to collect her post after claiming she has not had mail deliveries to her home for six weeks has called the situation "farcical".

Jean Larner, from Accrington in Lancashire, said she had been waiting for a letter about an urgent hospital appointment for more than two weeks.

Other local residents have also reported similar issues, with one telling the BBC his son's hospital letter arrived three days after the scheduled appointment.

Royal Mail said it was anticipated the situation would "improve by the end of this week".

The firm was recently been fined £10.5m by the regulator Ofcom for failing to meet delivery targets for the second year running.

Ms Larner said she was "extremely concerned" about the hospital letter.

"I've been to the sorting office twice myself in the last week and had a small handful of post handed to me, but it's getting quite worrying," she said.

"I've been checking online and other people haven't had post since 1 November."

Ms Larner said she was also waiting for theatre tickets to come through the post that she ordered in November and a V5 certificate for a car she had bought had taken four weeks to reach her.

She said she only got that letter "because my husband went to the sorting office".

"All they're saying is 'we're prioritising parcels'," she said.

Fellow resident Andy Gilroy said he had written to Hyndburn's Labour MP Sarah Smith about the situation.

He said she had been "very helpful" but her response had been caught up in the issue.

"Even her letter replying to my complaint took 19 days to arrive to my house," she said.

He added that a hospital appointment letter for his son "took 21 days to arrive".

The MP told Mr Gilroy she was trying to arrange a visit to Accrington Delivery Office and would "continue to raise concerns with colleagues in Parliament".

Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services said it had carried out "substantial" reforms to try to drive improvements and were making "the necessary changes to deliver for our customers".

A Royal Mail spokesman said a "higher than usual level of sickness absence" at the local delivery office had "unfortunately had an impact on deliveries in Accrington".

"We have a plan in place to manage any delays with deliveries to every address at least every other day," he said.

"We anticipate the situation will improve by the end of this week."

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