Royal Mail delays: Harlow residents miss hospital letters and bills

Ivor Thurgood, 79, from Harlow, said he is annoyed with Royal Mail

Residents from an Essex town say they are missing bills and hospital appointments because of Royal Mail delays.

Some people in Harlow said they had not received post for up to four weeks.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said it hoped to soon restore "our quality of service to our customers".

The company announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs last year, but it is recruiting more staff again ahead of the Christmas period.

Ivor Thurgood, 79, from Harlow, said: "The problem is, I'm waiting for hospital appointments, the letters never turn up, and sometimes the appointment I should have had has gone and it's annoying."

Royal Mail said they hope to "restoring our quality of service to our customers."

Mr Thurgood said the problem had been ongoing for almost four months.

"I do sometimes get annoyed but there is nothing you can do about it - that's the problem," he told BBC Essex.

Christmas worries

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said she received a letter almost a month after it was delivered by the sender.

"It's a good job it wasn't an urgent one," she added, claiming she will go three weeks without mail before receiving 20 items in one go.

A third resident, who also did not wish to be named, said: "People can't trust it now, thinking around Christmas, I will have to think about how to do that without that service."

Royal Mail announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs last year

Royal Mail said it had recruited 3,000 postmen and postwomen in the UK over the last six weeks and was still hiring about 500 permanent delivery positions each week.

The firm, which was a publicly-owned service until 2013, also said it had introduced a "wellbeing programme" offering free-of-charge 24-7 healthcare support for staff.

"We have plans in place and dedicated teams responsible for improving deliveries in Harlow and throughout our delivery offices nationwide," said the spokesperson.

"These actions plus others are already making a difference in some areas and we are confident that they will continue to improve quality of service for our customers."

About 16,000 temporary workers, more vehicles and more "parcel sorting sites" were being arranged in the "lead up to Christmas", Royal Mail said.