Yeovil residents waiting more than two weeks for Royal Mail post

Some residents have waited more than three weeks for any post through their letterboxes

People in a Somerset town are waiting more than two weeks for post and have taken to collecting it from the depot.

Some residents in Yeovil are reporting delays to time-sensitive mail and medication.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Across the UK, our teams are working extremely hard to ensure a consistent and reliable service to households."

One resident said: "The non-delivery of mail has repercussions to so many, financial and medically.

"I haven't received any mail for more than two weeks so I visited the sorting office and collected my outstanding mail, the earliest being a letter dated 17 November.

"The staff there told me that there was a staffing issue and at the moment it is best to collect your own mail."

It is not the first time residents in Yeovil have reported post delays, with many houses only receiving post in bulk in July.

'Royal Mail's fault'

Kevin Beazer, south west regional secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: "This issue is firmly at the door of Royal Mail."

"Whether it's Yeovil or across Somerset, Dorset, Devon or even the South West - I'm not surprised at people waiting so long for their post.

"There is now lots of offices with short staff after we sorted our disagreement last year and staff now have an expected increased workload which is causing the issue.

"Local post office workers are really trying their best and we just need Royal Mail to listen to our concerns," he added.

In response to the delays, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Our employees are committed to serving their communities and we are proud of the work they are doing to sort, deliver and collect mail this festive period.

"We have hired 16,000 seasonal workers, increased our vehicle numbers and boosted our operational capacity with extra parcel sorting sites to manage demand during this peak period."