Royal Mail denies prioritising parcels over letters

Medical appointments are being missed and important documents delayed because Royal Mail are prioritising parcels, an assembly member has claimed.

Mark H Durkan, SDLP MLA for Foyle, said his constituency office in Londonderry had been "inundated" with complaints about mail delivery in recent weeks.

One woman waiting on cancer diagnostic tests had missed "vital screening", he said.

Royal Mail said it did "not operate a policy of prioritising parcels".

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, Mr Durkan said some people were getting medical letters late while others were missing deadlines on things like benefits appeals and parking fines.

He said the woman waiting on cancer tests "has had her letters for that arrive late on four different occasions".

"It is costing people money and a lot more than that as well. Parcels are arriving and letters aren't - it is pretty evident parcels are being prioritised," he said.

He said concerns were more pronounced because of the busy pre-Christmas period and that he had tried to raise concerns with Royal Mail directly.

"They have been unresponsive over a couple of weeks to correspondence from myself, maybe they have posted a response and it hasn't arrived yet".

Last month, it emerged Royal Mail had been fined £5.6m for failing to meet its first and second class delivery targets in what the regulator Ofcom called a "wake-up call" for the postal service.

Ofcom said that Royal Mail had breached its obligations by missing targets "by a significant and unexplained margin".

Mr Durkan said that multimillion pound fine "doesn't seem to have effected change in the organisation".

In a statement, Royal Mail said "extensive measures" were in place "to improve our deliveries and ensure they are consistent and reliable at our busiest time of year.

"Our postmen and women are making deliveries at least every other day and we can confirm the vast majority of letters are delivered on time."

Royal Mail added that the recent Ofcom report had not identified "any suggestion that Royal Mail senior management had directed the prioritisation of parcels over letters outside of recognised contingency plans".