Hundreds back petition for ‘first-class’ postal service

‘DIABOLICAL’ staff shortages at Oban sorting office are leaving some rural communities without regular mail deliveries.

Deliveries to the Taynuilt and Kilchrenan areas are ‘haphazard’ and ‘unreliable’, say villagers, who are so frustrated at the hit-and-miss service that they have started a petition.

So far, more than 250 people are demanding Royal Mail returns the ‘first-class’ service they enjoyed before ‘ridiculous’ changes were brought in last year as part of a trial run.

Royal Mail bosses have told The Oban Times the efficiency review is still on-going but they will be listening to people’s concerns.

Taynuilt postmistress Lorna MacLennan said: ‘We used to have two postal workers who sorted mail out from here after it was dropped off from Glasgow on the way to Oban, and used the shop as their base. It worked well until bosses decided to change it and do it all from Oban. It’s ridiculous. We never had this performance before.’

According to campaigners, workers from Oban are only being given a set amount of time to deliver to the outlying villages, and any leftover mail has to be taken back to the sorting office for the next day.

‘Because they are so shortstaffed in Oban, our villages are losing out,’ said Mrs MacLennan. ‘Their delivery time is restricted so mail is not getting to where it should go, when it should go. We’ve heard of people missing hospital appointments because the post has never arrived. Deliveries are being rushed.

‘Some post gets mixed up and goes to wrong addresses. I’ve had folk ring me up as if it’s my fault. The whole system is just diabolical. They have not got staff in Oban, everyone is walking out,’ added Mrs MacLennan who has 30 years’ post office experience.

On Wednesday May 24, Taynuilt was told in the morning there would be no mail at all.

Mrs Maclennan continued: ‘We’ve had occasions when managers have had to come out from Oban delivering mail at five or six in the evening. We are a small community and the village post office shop is a hub of the community. We don’t want to lose it.

‘When they took the postal workers away last year without any consultation, we were told it was only for a trial period. The boys just disappeared to Oban but we want them back.’

People have also been signing a petition at the Kilchrenan Inn.

Taynuilt Community Council chairman David Sloss said the matter could be discussed at its next meeting on June 18 if it was raised officially with them.

‘Personally, I’ve had one or two people mention they are not getting their mail until late afternoon, when previously it was in the morning.

‘Lorna’s told me it was a business decision taken without any consultation and there could be an impact on the viability of the post office. If that’s the case, the manner in which it was done leaves something to be desired,’ he said.

Carol Thomas, who runs a self-catering business from Dalavich and heads up the village’s hydro scheme, said: ‘It can arrive at any time in the day but it’s getting later and later.

‘It’s not just getting it delivered that’s the problem, it’s getting it out of the village because they empty the post box too. It can make running a business difficult because you can’t always deal with things the same day; you don’t know for sure when the post will go.’

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: ‘Over a year ago, we did relocate the Taynuilt postmen to start their roles at Oban delivery office as part of a trial to make our service more efficient.

‘This is still part of an on-going review and we will be considering customers’ concerns as part of this. We are also investigating claims that mail has been left to be delivered the next day.

‘Unfortunately, there were some delays to deliveries as a result of high mail levels over the past week and we are doing all we can to resume our highquality delivery service to all our customers and we apologise for any inconvenience.’

Anyone concerned about deliveries should contact Royal Mail’s customer service team via royalmail.com, Twitter @ RoyalMail or by calling 03457 740 740.