Christmas card arrives in May after Royal Mail delay

Jayne Ozanne said she finally received her festive greeting on 8 May

A woman says it is "outrageous" a Christmas card took more than four months to arrive via Royal Mail.

Jayne Ozanne, from Littlemore in Oxford, finally received the festive greeting from her sister on 8 May from Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

The Royal Mail has apologised to Ms Ozanne and said it was "committed to restoring service levels".

Ofcom is investigating the postal service after it failed to meet its delivery targets over the past year.

Ms Ozanne, who is the founder and chair of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition, said constant postal delays were making her job harder.

Ms Ozanne said constant delays were making it harder to do her job

She said: "In my work life this is causing problems... I find it really is outrageous and I'm so glad Ofcom has suddenly decided to step in and look at this."

She added: "For my birthday last year I didn't get my cards for about three weeks, and since then I've just told people if you need to get hold of me then send me an email or something through an actual courier.

"I do think it will be a vicious circle for the Royal Mail because the more it lets people down the less people will want to use it."

Ofcom says the impact of Covid is no longer "an excuse for poor delivery performance"

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Improving quality of service is our top priority... we're sorry to any customers who may have been impacted by our performance during a year that has been one of the most challenging in our history.

"With the plans we have in place to drive service levels and reduce absence, we hope and expect to see further progress in the coming months."

Ofcom has said if there was no "satisfactory explanation" why the Royal Mail was falling short it could face fines.

The regulator said the impact of Covid was no longer "an excuse for poor delivery performance".

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