Changes ahead
More frustration in the post for Taynuilt residents
Changes at Royal Mail are delivering more frustration to people living in the Taynuilt area, already fed-up with holdups in receiving post.
In 2018 The Oban Times reported how villagers were fed-up with the ‘second-class’ service they were getting from Royal Mail and the situation has never improved enough to get the community’s stamp of approval.
Even a petition signed by the village failed to get a reliable service back.
This weekend, Taynuilt Post Office officially stopped being used as a sorting office, which means all the pressure is at the Oban end – the same is believed to have happened at Dalmally.
Previously, Royal Mail said shifting the sorting process to Oban was for a trial period only.
‘I’ve had umpteen complaints from people. I feel sorry for the customers but I can’t do any more. I’ve told them to report it to the regulators at postcom and to write to their MSPs about it to complain,’ said Taynuilt sub-postmistress Lorna MacLennan.
‘There’s piles of letters and parcels in cages stuck at Oban sorting office, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to suggest they’ve been there for weeks. I believe posties have been told to focus on getting the tracked and signed-for deliveries out – most letters aren’t tracked.
‘The problem’s been going on for years. People worry about getting the posties – who are trying their best – in trouble, but if people don’t make a noise about what’s happening it’s only going to keep getting worse. It’s how the system is organised from Oban that is at fault.’
Mrs MacLennan is in touch with the Federation of Sub-Postmasters which is working on building up a case. According to Mrs MacLennan, changes after the weekend meant post would also no longer be sorted at Dalmally Post Office, meaning postal workers will have a massive round trip on their hands to travel to Oban to pick up the mail before their rounds can even start – adding to the chaos of when staff are off sick or on holiday.
‘It’s an absolute mess,’ she added.
There has been talk of Royal Mail renting some space at Inverawe to use as a sorting depot but that has not been confirmed.
Airds Bay resident Dugald McDougall, who has complained to MP Brendan O’Hara, recently went without mail for 10 days. When a delivery eventually arrived at his door he had letters from nine different sources. After no luck making phone calls to Oban sorting office and before going in in person, he sat for almost two hours next to his nearest post box to quiz the postie – except the postie never arrived to empty the box.
When he flagged it up at Oban sorting office, he was told the collection time did not matter because the boxes were emptied as and when postal workers are able to do it. ‘So why is there a time on the box?’ he asked.
Another resident MacIain Service said: ‘Royal Mail needs to have a back-up system in place for when staff are off sick or on holiday so they can cope. They can’t turn round and say get stuffed and wait until they come back to work to get your deliveries. When people put a stamp on a letter or parcel they are entering a legal contract with Royal Mail to deliver that item sooner – it shouldn’t be later.’
At the time of going to press, The Oban Times had not received any comment from Royal Mail.