Islay residents wait three weeks to receive post
- Published
A lack of post staff on a Scottish island means residents are waiting weeks to have mail delivered.
Staff shortages on Islay have left just three postal workers covering the entire community, as well as neighbouring island Jura.
Because delivery routes cannot be completed, locals have faced waits of up to three weeks for letters and parcels to arrive - including hospital appointments and vital medication.
Royal Mail has apologised for delays.
Residents say the situation is so dire they have taken it upon themselves to travel to the island's sorting office in Port Ellen to collect their own post after people missed hospital appointments because of late deliveries.
Those contacting Royal Mail's head office say they have been told the problems are not flagged in the company's system, with updates on the local Facebook page being the only source of information on the situation.
Locals claim the predicament is due to numerous Royal Mail employees resigning over "poor" working conditions.
Tom Evans, a former Royal Mail worker, told the PA news agency he left the company in August after experiencing what he described as "poor treatment of staff".
Mr Evans said: "The fundamental issue is that Royal Mail is a very poor company to work for - the worst I have worked for with 20-plus years across numerous industries."
He said a contributing factor in his decision to leave was the company's apparent reluctance to apply its island living allowance to staff on Islay, despite the team lodging a grievance over the summer.
A shortage of staff means residents are travelling to the island's sorting office to collect their mail
Mr Evans said: "This [payment] is not applied automatically and one of my former co-workers only found out about it by accident as its existence is effectively hidden from staff.
"Anyone who has joined over the last five years or so has been denied this for no good reason."
He added that the company's workload was "ever-increasing without increasing resources and support".
Alastair Redman, councillor for Kintyre and the Islands and an Islay resident, told PA that he had been "inundated" with emails, phone calls and social media messages from concerned locals.
He said: "I personally have not had any deliveries to my house in over two to three weeks, and there are some households that have been waiting close to a month for letters and parcels.
"Local residents that I have spoken to feel that unfair pressure is being put on them to pick up parcels from the Royal Mail sorting office on Islay in Port Ellen. For many, this is a long and expensive drive.
"Hospital appointments are hard to come by right now and I have heard from local residents who have missed appointments due to late deliveries of appointment notification letters."
The job advert for Islay postpeople
A 35-hour-a-week position for a "postperson with driving" is being advertised on the Royal Mail website, but remains unfilled.
Royal Mail said it would write to local politicians to address their concerns.
A spokesman said: "We do not operate a policy of requiring customers to collect their own mail on Islay.
"Every item of mail is important to Royal Mail. We are very sorry for any recent delays that our customers may have experienced.
"We have been affected by some resourcing issues locally, which we are in the process of addressing.
"Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via the Royal Mail website at www.royalmail.com."
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- Published4 October 2022
