Stockport medical appointments 'missed due to post delays'

Stockport residents say some areas are getting only one or two postal deliveries a week

People in part of Greater Manchester are missing urgent medical appointments because of postal delays, a council leader has said.

Mark Hunter said people in Stockport have written to councillors to say some areas are getting only one or two deliveries per week.

He told a council meeting he has now asked Ofcom to investigate the problem.

Royal Mail said it was "committed" to improving deliveries in Stockport and nationwide.

Liberal Democrat council leader Mr Hunter said: "We certainly don't attach any responsibility to individual postmen and women who do such a good job in such difficult circumstances, but the fact remains that the service locally in many parts of Stockport is deteriorating.

"It's not just the irritation and inconvenience, the serious point about this is that people are missing urgent medical appointments."

Ofcom announced it was investigating Royal Mail's performance in May this year after its postal service fell short of its delivery targets.

In the 2022/23 period Royal Mail delivered 73.7% of first class mail within one working day compared to its target of 93%.

For second class mail, 90.7% was delivered within three working days against the target of 98.5%.

A Royal Mail spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We are committed to restoring our quality of service to our customers.

"We have plans in place and dedicated teams responsible for improving deliveries in Stockport and throughout our delivery offices nationwide.

"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."