Paddock Wood residents have contacted Royal Mail over consistent delays

KentOnline / KMTV

According to residents, bank statements, bills, even critical medical documents and supplies are taking weeks to arrive, or not even coming at all.  Alfie Rowe reports.

Transcript

00:00It's not just bits of paper that we're waiting for and can endlessly wait for.

00:04It's impacting people's lives.

00:06With mailboxes and letter holes donning the front of houses across the county,

00:12it's clear how important parcel deliveries are to our daily lives.

00:16And as the country's largest postal service, the Royal Mail is central to this process.

00:22It's easy to take the post service for granted,

00:24but when things go wrong and the letters stop coming, the consequences can be serious.

00:30Laura-Jane Manuel is a Paddock Wood resident who has been particularly let down by the Royal Mail.

00:36I have a couple of chronic medical conditions.

00:39I've missed quite significantly important medical appointments.

00:46I also am reliant on medication being delivered to me and haven't received it in the time frame.

00:54That it should have been delivered in or haven't received it at all.

00:59When Laura does receive her post, it's often weeks' worth of letters at a time.

01:04These backlogs can be a matter of life and death.

01:07Not receiving that medication means that potentially I would need further medication administered to me

01:18if I was to collapse, living on my own with a 10-year-old son.

01:23That responsibility falls onto my 10-year-old son to administer that medication,

01:28to make sure I stay alive or out of a coma,

01:32which a 10-year-old child shouldn't have the responsibility of.

01:36Laura's story is just one of many,

01:39with 33 residents across the area submitting a joint complaint to Royal Mail.

01:43Asked for comments, a Royal Mail spokesperson said,

01:47We are aware of service issues in Paddock Wood and apologise to residents affected.

01:52Our team in Tonbridge has been working hard to improve service locally

01:55and following a recent recruitment campaign,

01:58our new posties will begin training in the coming weeks.

02:02But for local residents, the Royal Mail's promises are still undelivered.

02:07Alfie Rowe for KMTV in Tonbridge Wells.

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