EXCLUSIVE: Former employees have claimed that the Factory Lane delivery depot has been seriously under-staffed, as employee illness affects services once again
Businesses and residents in one Croydon post code have not been getting a third-class postal service in 2025 – they’ve been getting no service whatsoever.
No service: some addresses in Croydon have gone almost two weeks without a postal delivery
The Royal Mail has admitted that there have been problems with widespread sickness at its Factory Lane sorting office, which provides deliveries to the CR0 postcode area of central Croydon.
Some addresses in this area have gone for almost two weeks without having a single item of mail delivered, meaning often vital items, including urgent notifications of NHS hospital appointments or essential GP visits, have not arrived on time.
In some cases, even medical prescriptions ordered on the internet have failed to be delivered.
Since late last year, the price of a first class stamp, supposedly offering next-day delivery, has been £1.65.
In a statement issued to Inside Croydon, Royal Mail did not confirm whether other Croydon postcodes, such as CR2 in South Croydon, CR7 in Thornton Heath or SE25 in South Norwood, have been similarly affected – these and other areas around Croydon have their post sorted and distributed from other offices.
Inside Croydon has reported before on the struggles at the Factory Lane sorting depot when the area’s postal deliveries have been adversely affected by outbreaks of covid among its staff; the last notable absence of any delivery service being in 2023.
But Royal Mail refused to comment today on what the nature of the illness suffered by its staff on this occasion.
With the management of Royal Mail having cut back on staff numbers, following industrial action and wide-scale redundancies, the operation at Factory Lane no longer has the resilience to deal with the absence of several posties at the same time. Former employees have expressed the view that the Royal Mail deliveries service in Croydon has been significantly under-staffed for several years.
Royal Mail has, for now at least, a legal responsibility to maintain once-a-day deliveries, six days a week. But repeatedly in Croydon, it has been struggling to ensure reliable deliveries even once a week.
Today, Royal Mail issued an apology to residents in the affected areas, and claimed that service is returning to normal.
In a statement issued to Inside Croydon, a spokesperson said: “Some routes have recently experienced temporary delays due to a higher level of sick absence than usual at the delivery office.
“We can confirm service is now returning to normal.
“Items are being delivered daily and any routes that are not completed are prioritised the following day. We thank customers for their patience.”
Inside Croydon is keen to hear from any residents or business owners who have been affected by the missing postal deliveries, or from any Royal Mail employees, past or present, on their experiences working for the business in recent times. All correspondence will, of course, be treated confidentially, although we do ask that you include details of the postcode where your deliveries have been affected, or the sorting depot where you work or worked.
Read more: Age UK calls for Mayor Khan to act against Post Office closures
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If they stopped offering discounts to junk-mail senders we would create less recycling and posties woul not have to deliver tripe which goes straight in the bin.
The NHS needs to stop sending appointment communications via Royal Mail. Anyone who does not or cannot use email or a mobile phone needs to appoint someone to receive messages for them.
We’ve had our post delivered to the same door number in both Duppas Hiil Road and Arundel Close instead of Duppas Road. The most recent was an insulin prescription, the other was a batch of letters including hospital appointment and car tax from before Christmas which the neighbour handed back via the postman this week.
The problem in my area is that many posties are unable to read. Many items are delivered to my block which are not for my block at all (different building number and different road name). My worry is: how many of my letters are delivered to other addresses? I will never know.
I complained to Royal Mail. Their response was along the lines of: these things happen.
Privatisation, and subsequent toothless regulation, of the Royal Mail, water, energy etc has been one of the worst policies of the last 40 odd years. All our utilities are mainly now owned by foreign asset-stripping companies who don’t give a toss whether our water is drinkable because they don’t have to drink it. The shareholders aren’t bothered if we don’t have a working postal system because their profits and public subsidies keep rolling in.
The railways haven’t been renationalised – the tracks, signals and the liability of billions in repairs have, but the profits of the rolling stock leasing companies haven’t. If Keith Starmer’s Labour Party have their way the NHS will be the next to go down this road.
I wish someone could give an example of something that was better before privatisation. Buses and trains are waay better than I started work in London – 1973. It wasn’t privatisation itself that was the problem – the regulators have massively failed – OFWAT, for example, blocked water price increases that might have averted the debacle we have today. Back to Royal Fail, when my granddad (1880-1958) was a boy you could post a letter in the city of London to Lingfield and it would arrive the same day! Post war, everything went rapidly downhill
“Post-war”? Are you referring to your days in short trousers during the Boer War, Chris?
Of course
“OFWAT, for example, blocked water price increases that might have averted the debacle we have today.”
That’s obtuse, even by your low standards.
The privatised water industry has been milked and asset stripped by crooks in Australia, their shareholders are getting record dividends, their CEOs and top brass are handed massive salaries and bonuses, and we’re shafted by monopolies that pour our shit into our rivers and tell us we have to pay huge price increases to sort it out (by which they maintain and increase their profits)
Not obtuse. Accurate. You are right, of course, about us being shafted. The American military call this BOHICA. Check it out – it describes life in the UK
CR0 post code here. Have had nothing delivered since a week or so before Christmas. Relatives have called asking did I receive their card. Nope.
Paid one bill online after enquiring about my account. Told they sent it before Xmas and a final reminder 2 weeks ago.
Today received a phone call from St.George’s Tooting asking to rearrange an appointment. What appointment? Again sent a fortnight ago.
Immediately rang Royal Mail. Not expecting much joy as they went through a checklist of how I might be responsible for their failure to deliver.I have lived at the same address for 20 years.
Promised a reply within 3 working days, let’s hope it’s not by post.
Got a reference number so that’s nice.
be nice to get my post ……..maybe one day .. CR0 resident
Royal mail are lying about sickness.
They have cut ALL overtime and posties walks are so big now they simply can’t deliver mail and the 80+ parcels that go with it.
New contracts are only 30 hours a week and many leave within 2 weeks because of bullying by management to go faster and do more.
Nobody wants a career at Royal Mail as there is no longer one, it’s a meat grinder now.
@ Adrian Waters I’d like you to be in front of prep frame for an area you don’t know and put all the mail in correctly and bundle up ready for delivery in the 40 mins some people are given.
Constant revisions by office bods that have never done a walk in their life that cock up a working system just to save on wages.
Royal Mail don’t care about their workers or their customers.
As another CR0 resident, I am in the fortunate position to say my post service is reliable. It probably helps that we have the same postie most days, which means he knows his round and his customers.
Closing the Post Office in the High Street will be terrible for all the people that use it and for the vitality of the town centre. That decision must be overturned
Happy to say that our Royal Mail service is mostly brilliant. ‘Little Legs’ is our usual postie and he’s friendly and reliable. When he’s not available, which doesn’t happen often, things can go awry. Overall happy