Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie today praised Royal Mail’s continuing strong performance in delivering First and Second class mail in the DD postcode area of Dundee and Angus.

Stewart Hosie said: “The latest statistics which includes an end of year report shows that 93.5% of first and second-class mail arrived the next day in the DD postcode area, a strong performance and well about the minimum standard.

“I am certainly aware that my postbag contains far less complaints from constituents these days about mail delivery or missing mail.

“Although we mustn’t ever be complacent, I am pleased to congratulate the local management and staff of Royal Mail for this creditable performance.”

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie has welcomed new performance statistics published today that show Royal Mail has made a considerable turnaround in delivery performances in the DD postcode area since last year.

The MP, who made his annual visit to Dundee East Sorting Office on Friday, said: “This is a fantastic turnaround, with first class deliveries in DD postcode areas now up to 94.6 %.

“I was very impressed with what I saw at the Sorting Office and I am very keen to see this improvement maintained over further quarters.

“Congratulations to all staff involved in achieving this turnaround. However, the bad weather is on its way and we must hope that these performances can be maintained, particularly since the overall modernisation hasn’t been completed.

“I was very interested to hear, during my visit, of contingency planning  that has already been put in place in anticipation of bad weather, which includes an additional 30 vans deployed to serve the DD postcode area and a small increase in numbers of seasonal staff taken on to deal with this year’s Christmas post.”

Local MP Stewart Hosie has welcomed the announcement by Royal Mail that they are to invest an extra £15m in this year’s Christmas operation throughout the UK and that an additional 30 vans are to be deployed to serve the DD postcode area along with a small increase in numbers of seasonal staff taken on to deal with the Christmas post.
 
The Dundee East MP said: “I am pleased to hear of the extra resources being deployed, although we have no indication of how many more seasonal staff it will involve.
 
“The situation last winter was completely unacceptable. My constituents complained about not receiving mail or that their mail was delayed, and the havoc lasted from October to late February and the number of complaints ran into the hundreds.
 
“During the prolonged course of the debacle, I met with Royal Mail’s national management several times and raised the issue in Parliament.
 
“Severe weather did cause some of the problems but things were made much worse by the misguided introduction of the Way Forward system in Dundee East in the run-up to the busiest time of year.
 
“I have never had more complaints over a single issue than I had last winter about Royal Mail’s performance.
 
“Our postcode area was subsequently revealed as the worst in mainland Scotland in terms of delivery performance.
 
“Extra resources in terms of more vans and more seasonal staff this year must surely help to prevent a repeat and so I am cautiously optimistic that lessons have been learned and that we will not see anything like the havoc we saw last year.”

MP Stewart Hosie today responded to publication of the latest Royal Mail Quality of Service Report and said: “It’s disappointing to see DD postcode areas still at the bottom of the heap in yet another quarterly Performance Report, particularly since bad weather cannot be blamed for it this time.

“For the first quarter of the 2011-12 financial year, from 21st March to 5th June, DD postcodes area which include Monifieth and Carnoustie has the lowest performing delivery target figures across mainland Scotland.

“I have today written to Iain McKay, Director of Scottish Affairs at Royal Mail looking for further information as to why this is the case. I note that he has claimed that the Icelandic volcanic eruption in May which disrupted some air schedules and severe winds at around the same time affected their delivery performance.

“We know that Dundee East was hammered by the introduction of an untried new system during a prolonged period of particularly bad weather at the beginning of the year but it is frustrating that we are still experiencing poor service now, in the summer.

“In this first quarter of the new year, for March, April, May and June, when you would expect a better performance, due to the new system finally bedding in and the better weather, Dundee is still bottom of the league, still significantly below other mainland areas.

“I know that Royal Mail have been working hard to improve in Dundee but this Report shows little evidence of it so far, which is extremely disappointing.

“In my letter to Iain Mackay today, I have also asked him to provide me with details of what contingency plans Royal Mail has in place for any deterioration in weather during the winter months.

“We dealt with hundreds of complaints from October until January and we are still taking up individual complaints on behalf of constituents . We have written and held meetings with the Royal Mail on the Way Forward system and its proposed roll-out in Dundee West and indeed its future within the Royal Mail network, but little seems to be happening and we will soon be in the onset of a new winter.”

Residents in the DD postal areas of Dundee and Angus received the worst postal service in mainland Scotland according to a new report into the service’s performance. The official figures released yesterday show that performance in the DD postcodes was 78.5% compared with AB postcodes which services Aberdeen city and surrounding hinterland which had a 90.8% score. The only postcode area with a worse record than Dundee were the Hebrides and Shetland postcodes which had scores of 62.7% and 43.4%.

Local MP Stewart Hosie said: “This Report comes as absolutely no surprise. Dundee East was hammered by the introduction of a new system and clobbered by a prolonged period of particularly bad weather.

“The people served by the Dundee East sorting office which includes the eastern part of Dundee, Broughty Ferry and Monifieth expect that the service will now improve.

“Dundee East must never again be bottom of the heap. “We should not have been used to test out a new system – The Way Forward – which was untried and untested. It should have been introduced outwith the Winter period altogether and with a longer run-in period to ensure it was working smoothly.

“Secondly, Royal Mail must have built-in Winter resilience to their new system to assist them to provide a better service in the run-up to Christmas.

“Such were the problems which my constituents experienced during the run-up to Christmas that I raised the matter in parliament and took it up with Royal Mail UK management.

“We dealt with hundreds of complaints from October until January and although we are not now receiving the same volume of complaints, we are still pursuing Royal Mail on behalf of several outstanding matters.

“We wrote most recently [on 11th February] to Royal Mail seeking clarification of several constituent’s specific problems and more generally asking to be advised on the future of the Way Forward system and its future within the Royal Mail network.”

 SNP MP for Dundee East Stewart Hosie today (Monday) raised a point of order calling on Ed Davey, the Postal Affairs Minister, to answer questions on the floor of the House of Commons about the severe delays many Royal Mail customers in the Dundee area are experiencing.

The MP’s actions follow several meetings with senior management over the situation – and more than 150 complaints from constituents throughout the constituency over mail problems in the DD4 and DD5 postcode area since late October.

Commenting, Stewart Hosie MP said: “Despite the best efforts of hard pressed Royal Mail workers, the back log has still not been cleared and vital mail is still stuck in the sorting office.

“The Business Secretary has serious questions to answer on the roll out of the Way Forward system and should appear in the House of Commons without delay.”

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie today raised dozens of complaints over Royal Mail delivery problems in Dundee with senior management of Royal Mail.

In a Conference call with Julie Morrison, Head of External Relations (Scotland) and Terry Allan, Lead Delivery Sector Manager for Dundee, Fife, Perthshire and Central, the MP itemised dozens of specific complaints.

The complaints included travel tickets lost in the post, missing insurance documents, a missing passport, outstanding bills and invoices. One constituent had missed three interview dates which had been sent to him.

Another constituent who contacted the office had received no mail since 22 November another claimed that first class mail was taking more than a week to reach him.

A constituent had been waiting for 16 packages posted between 20^th and 27^th November but received two letters on 17 December one dated 14 December and other dated 24 November.

Some of the constituents had been able to get a direct written response to their complaints from Royal Mail only to receive a reply stating that ‘there were no known problems’ – which they found highly irritating.

Stewart Hosie said: “I have received more than 60 complaints on this issue and all are supported with dates and other evidence. This is a very large number of complaints indeed.

“And many of these complaints are not directly related to the spell of bad weather. The difficulties occurred before the recent Arctic conditions arrived. 

“I raised these specific cases with the senior management team and they committed themselves to replying directly to each one which we will forward again to them.

“They admitted that what happened in Dundee East was unacceptable. While they claim to have cleared every outstanding package from the Dundee East sorting office last week, they also claim that the severe impact of snow and gridlock in the south has meant some suppliers have not yet put parcels into the system.

“Royal Mail informed me that they believe  they have fixed the fundamental problems of bedding-in the new system in Dundee which was planned to be achieved by 30 November.

“It could be that the new system will operate more smoothly, however we will not be sure if that is the case until after the Christmas rush is over.

“Royal Mail has committed itself to resolving all complaints urgently and responding to the specific complaints I raised with them.

“They have also undertaken to look at urgent cases including that of the missing passport immediately.

“I hope to work with them to ensure that all the cases raised with my office are satisfactorily resolved as soon as possible.

“If any other constituents are having difficulties with Royal Mail please contact me urgently.”

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie took up complaints from constituents over Royal Mail non-delivery and late-delivery issues and wrote to the Manager of Dundee East Delivery Office on 20th October. Four weeks on, the MP has not yet received a reply and now a further letter has been sent inquiring whether the original letter was received, although this time, the MP has communicated by email directly with named Delivery Office Managers.

Commenting,  Stewart Hosie said: “I have now been approached by a fair number of constituents, more each day, making complaints about the service and I am very keen indeed to have an update on the situation from Royal Mail.

“I have been contacted by constituents in Monifieth, Douglas, Broughty Ferry and elsewhere in Dundee who have raised with me non-delivery or late delivery issues.

“I have taken up these issues previously and I am not unaware that Royal Mail management have spent a fair bit of time trying to resolve the problems.

“I’m also aware that there is a new system in place which is causing some of the problems – but until I have a definitive response from Royal Mail, I am not able to properly advise my constituents of the precise problems and the steps being taken to rectify them and of course Christmas will soon be upon us.

“In my original letter of 20th October, I had suggested that a meeting between myself and Sorting Office Management might have been helpful.

“I have re-iterated that request again today.”

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie took up complaints from constituents over a variety of issues with Royal Mail delivery in the Brought Ferry area and wrote to the Manager of Dundee East Delivery Office on 20^th October.

The MP has not yet received a reply.

Stewart Hosie said: “I was approached by a number of constituents and it would be fair to say that this problem is a recurring one. I have been contacted about these kinds of issues over the past few years.

“Typically, my constituents have been angered by ‘sorry you were not at home’ cards been put through the letterbox when the householders are in.

“This then puts the householder to some inconvenience having to make a trip around to Ivory Place to retrieve the item.

“There has been a longstanding problem about non-delivery or late-delivery in certain parts of Broughty Ferry and an allegation is often raised with me that the DD5 3 area is one of the worst areas in the city for poor delivery times.

“I have taken up these issues as they arise and I am aware that Royal Mail management have spent a fair bit of time trying to resolve the problems.

“In my most recent letter of 20^th October, I asked for an update on what steps Royal Mail will be taking to ensure the best possible service in Broughty Ferry and beyond – with the festive season looming.

“I hope to receive an update on the service improvements and may be having a meeting to further discuss the issues.”