'The Royal Mail must do better for the people of Luton'
Unreliable postal deliveries in Luton “can have serious consequences” for the health of residents, as well as their finances, legal rights and daily lives, a borough councillor has warned.
But Royal Mail says service improvements are its “top priority”, backed by a £500m modernisation investment over five years.
Liberal Democrat Vauxhall councillor Lee Bridgen presented a motion to the borough council’s annual meeting, asking that it “notes Royal Mail remains a vital public service for residents, businesses, charities and public bodies across the town”.
It called on chief executive Mark Fowler to write to Royal Mail’s chief executive expressing the council’s “concern about delayed and unreliable deliveries affecting Luton residents”, while “seeking details of local performance, the causes of recent service failures and the steps being taken to improve reliability in the town”.
The motion also requested Mr Fowler to write to the Secretary of State responsible for postal services. It suggested “a route for residents to report postal service problems should be established and publicised”, enabling evidence from Luton to be collated and shared with Royal Mail, Ofcom and local MPs.
“The Royal Mail must do better for the people of Luton,” explained councillor Bridgen. “This isn’t about blaming postal workers across the town, who work hard and deserve our support.
“The concern set out in this motion is about systemic failure, management, resourcing, service planning and accountability. For many residents, post isn’t an option or old-fashioned.
“It’s how they receive NHS appointments, hospital letters, prescriptions, legal documents, benefits information, banking correspondence, bills and school communications.
“When that post is delayed, the consequences can be serious. A missed appointment, a late bill, or a delayed legal letter can affect someone’s health, finances, rights, or piece of mind.
“Whatever the ownership model, public or private, a service can only command public confidence if it’s properly managed, resourced and accountable.
“Failures of delivery aren’t inevitable and shouldn’t be accepted as the new normal. This motion asks for local performance information, an explanation of the causes of service failures and urges steps to improve reliability,” he added.
“The universal service obligation exists for a reason. It must mean something in practice and must be protected, so it doesn’t become a hollow promise where persistent failure is normalised and residents are expected to accept a worse service.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said in a statement: “We understand how important reliable postal deliveries are for households and businesses.
“This is particularly when people are waiting for NHS letters, bills, banking correspondence and other important documents.
“More than 92 per cent of letters are delivered on time and 99.4 per cent are delivered within a week across the UK, but we know there’s much more to do.
“Anyone can raise delivery issues through our established customer service channels, which allow us to look into specific concerns properly and take action where needed.
“Improving quality of service is our top priority and we’re rolling out a major programme of change, which is supported by £500m of investment over five years to improve reliability for customers, as we modernise the postal service.”
Labour High Town councillor James Taylor told the meeting: “We all agree with the sentiment and gist of the motion.”
He proposed an amendment “to recognise ongoing work in Parliament by the town’s Labour MPs” on this matter. The amended motion was agreed by councillors.