SE1 postal service problems (now closed)

This is a continuation of the 'Third World Postal Service' thread.

Thanks to all those who made it on our behalf on Friday.
I was planning on coming, had printed off my "evidence" etc but got held up at work. Is Mr Hughes still interested in receiving actual cases of missing/delayed mail? Mine mostly relates to summer and autumn last year but I'm more than happy to forward it on if it would prove useful.

Toby

And to reiterate thanks for all of those who went to represent us -- like
Toby, I had planned to go, with evidence ready, but as it was short notice was already double booked with something that took longer than I thought so didn't make it in the end. I'd also like to send details of my cases of missing mail, so I'll drop Simon Hughes a line.

Toby, Rach and everyone -

In terms of sending Simon Hughes further evidence, we told him that this forum would be the place that it was all most clearly documented.

Can you post your details to this list? It will help in terms of giving others (for example, the media) and the other people on this forum the clearest idea of what's going on. A public archive of the problem will help to keep the pressure up.

However, saying that, I would also email it to him (making sure you title it really clearly) at:

[email protected] 

or if you have a healthy sense of irony you can always post it to:

Simon Hughes MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

All

Regarding the accuracy of the Royal Mail's address information, I am currently clarifying the situation for my home address with the Royal Mail. If anyone who has had postal problems wants to send me their address and postcode (in confidence) I'll add their addresses to the enquiry.

This relates to possible inaccurate information contained within the Royal Mail's 'Addresspoint' product.

Niall Connolly

This in today's SLP:

Post chiefs snub MP crisis meeting
ROYAL Mail bosses snubbed an invitation to meet Southwark MP Simon Hughes and angry residents to smooth out problems with the delivery service.

icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk

[edited by JH to stop ridiculously long URL from distorting the page layout]

Thanks fedora

I will get the details together, post them here and email Simon Hughes

Cathy,

thanks for posting.

What we also now need is Time Out coverage.

If news really starts to get spread around tha, because of the postal problems, SE1 could be a risky place to be in business (whether sole traders or big companies), or to rely on personal mail...or even somewhere where you have a larger risk than average of identity fraud, well it's a great story.

And it keeps the pressure up.

Hi there - was nice to meet so many people on Friday.

As part of my "log" of continuing problems, I received today a packet, sent by First Class mail in December (yup, 17th Dececmber folks) from Oxford.

I had assumed it was one of the million "missing" items that the Post Office apparently loses every week (according to our friendly researcher) and had got the company to resend the packet to my work address.

So I now have a bit of a dilemma - in that I've received two cashmere hot water bottle covers (it was a Christmas present - don't ask) for the price of one. I guess the decent thing to do is return it - but the thought of paying one penny to Royal Mail - especially when that penny is incurred as a result of their inability to deliver a packet within one month of posting....

Although, I do wonder if this is a sign that someone, somewhere in Mandela Way is dusting off all the piles of missing post and packets in response to our efforts ? It would be nice to think so.

Finally, did anyone else catch Simon Hughes' explanation as to why Royal Mail declined to come along to the meeting on Friday ? I was moving chairs at the time, but I think he said that Royal Mail didn't think it was appropriate to attend because criminal or disciplinary proceedings could result. I didn't get a sense of whether this is because there is an active investigation under way at the moment by them, or simply because the complaints aired at our meeting could, one day, lead to such proceedings. Interested to know how other people understood this comment ?

The former would imply a more serious problem with the post in SE1 than mere incompetence, as we discussed on Friday.

This is brilliant. People power in action. Great idea about Time Out. How do we do it?

(On a less serious note) Harriet
I'll make you an offer for your cashmere hot water bottle cover if you like and you can donate the cash to charity. Just a thought.