LETTERS have arrived late or been delivered to the wrong address following a cost-cutting restructure of postal services in Barnstaple.

A number of people contacted the

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   GETTING THE BIRD: Royal Mail has been criticised for its erratic service.

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   Post delivery

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Journal

this week to express concern over their mail.

Some said post was now arriving at random times of the day — or sometimes not at all.

Others say they have been delivered the wrong person's post, addressed to an entirely different home.

Anne Arnold, of Fremington, said: "We used to get our mail in the morning, originally about 9.30am. Then it went up to midday and now it is anytime from 3pm onwards."

Matt Brayley, of Barnstaple, said: "Three times in the past two weeks we have been given post that doesn't belong to us.

"It has been for someone with the same house number, but a different street name, somewhere nearby.

"Because it has been for somewhere close I have just dropped it round to the correct address but it makes you wonder if others are doing the same and if we are getting all our post."

Royal Mail spokesman Mike Dalton said significant changes had been made to the way in which deliveries were organised and as a result there had been some disruption to deliveries and delivery times.

He insisted the disruption would be temporary. He said: "The situation is improving on a weekly basis and, within a short space of time, we expect our customers to notice an improvement to the service."

Mr Dalton said the Barnstaple sorting office had undergone a complete restructure and postal staff had been given new routes.

He explained: "We don't keep things the same. A town is organic; it wouldn't make any sense to keep the walks the same.

"For instance, take a postman who's been doing a route for the past seven years. He may take four hours to do it, but the number of homes on that route may have changed, and it may now mean they only take three hours to do it, so we've changed the routes around."

But the Communication Workers' Union is furious with the upheaval and claims local postal staff were not properly consulted about the changes, and the new regime was not workable.

Phil Chadwick, CWU South West Secretary said: "A revision of duties was proposed by Royal Mail to be undertaken using a system known as Georoute. This is a system whereby information such as walking speeds, the nature of the terrain, and that postal staff should not be out walking for more than 3.5 hours continuously, is used to draw up duties that are supposed to be fair, equal and manageable.

"The local CWU agreed to take part in this process, but unfortunately from our point of view there was not the proper and comprehensive consultation with staff to enable a workable outcome.

"We wrote to Royal Mail on March 5 to set out our concerns.

"This letter made no difference as far as we can see."

He said Royal Mail had taken out around 400 hours as part of the process which was the equivalent of ten full time duties.

Royal Mail was "carrying on regardless" of the problems, he said, which was why a worse service was being carried out by postal staff who did not have enough time or knowledge of the new routes, to provide the service the public deserved.

"We are trying to work with Royal Mail management to rectify these problems and hope that they will engage us and their staff in a proper manner instead of what seems to be happening which is that some staff are being told they are not working fast enough," he said.

●Let us know your experience of the postal service, tel: 01271 347438 or email editorial@northdevonjournal.co.uk