Lee Anderson column: Delivery delay crisis proves Royal Mail is not fit for purpose

Firstly, I have huge respect for the posties who are working hard day after day doing their best, but are being let down by upper management.

In my most recent meeting with them, they had the nerve to tell me that Ashfield and Mansfield residents need to be educated about how their service has improved.

My response was that it's the upper management that needs educating, not my residents.

My residents are rightly furious with post being frequently missed, hospital appointment letters arriving after the appointments, legal documents arriving far too late, birthday cards arriving weeks after birthdays, and so forth.

People rely on their mail arriving on time, but this has not been the case for some time.

This is now a crisis.

I have been meeting with Royal Mail time and time again to try and find a solution, but their service still falls very far below the standards that residents expect.

Royal Mail is clearly not fit for purpose.

Anyone who would like to get in touch with me and share their experiences, please email me at [email protected]

Bin collections are also currently in a similar state to Royal Mail deliveries, as I have also recently met with Ashfield Council to discuss the current state of bin collections in Ashfield.

Many residents are still reporting that bins are consistently being emptied late.

This is another failure of the Ashfield Independent leadership and the introduction of the four-day working week for refuse workers.

The crews are not happy, residents are not happy, and I'm not happy.

Whilst the Ashfield Independents have seemingly gone missing since they were almost entirely wiped out at last years' county council elections, bins in Ashfield remain unemptied.

Ashfield Council has told me that to tackle this issue they have got extra crews on, they say they have changed the system and how they work, and that the refuse workers are being offered additional overtime.

If things do not improve, rest assured that I will continue to get on the council and council leader's case about this and I will keep you all updated on my Facebook page.

The current situation is a disgrace, the authority's most basic responsibility is to empty bins and they can't even get that right.

Again, I have huge respect to the refuse workers who are going out in this heat day after day doing their best but are being failed by the council's leadership.