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MPs pressure Royal Mail over continued delays in south-east England

Victoria Jones/PA Media Royal Mail vans parked up in a delivery officeVictoria Jones/PA Media
Some South East residents say issues have been ongoing for longer than just winter this year

MPs from across south-east England have met with Royal Mail over continued delays in the build up to Christmas.

The MP for Wealden, Nus Ghani, has been contacted by several residents in Hailsham who say deliveries were not arriving for "over a fortnight".

Other areas in the region have also been affected, with residents in Medway, Leybourne,Dorking and Lewes also experiencing postal delays.

Royal Mail say they are hiring an extra 16,000 workers for the festive period.

A spokesperson added: "Our teams are working extremely hard to ensure a consistent and reliable service to households throughout Kent and Sussex this Christmas."

Ms Ghani is one of a number of MPs in the South East who have spoken to Royal Mail in the last few weeks, including fellow Conservatives Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) and Maria Caulfield (Lewes).

Ms Ghani said: "I understand that the delivery delays have been caused by high levels of staff sickness and absences and I was pleased to secure commitments that resources are being redirected to Hailsham to recover service levels and restore consistent and reliable service ahead of Christmas."

Getty Images Nus GhaniGetty Images
Nus Ghani says her constituents in Hailsham can go over a fortnight without getting a delivery

Victoria Harris, who lives close to the Kent and Sussex border, says that she has had issues "for the past two years".

She said: "I first complained in August 2022 and they have told me they had problems which they were looking to fix, but since then, I've heard this every six months.

She added: "We had a bank letter that took two weeks to get to us and this led to our bank account being frozen - which we had to try and sort out while being out the country!"

Ian Palmer/BBC Kristina BouldonIan Palmer/BBC
Kristina Bouldon says that Royal Mail are failing small businesses

Kristina Boulden, who runs a wool company in Kent, said that "issues around this time of year are common, but appear to be really bad this year".

She added: "I don't think the service is good enough. I think at the minute, Royal Mail are letting down small businesses."

Today is the last day that people can post first class letters and it will reach its destination time for Christmas, Royal Mail says.

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