'Our postal service has gone downhill'

Residents of an East Sussex town have called their postal service "diabolical" after going weeks without mail.

Melanie Coupland, from Hailsham, told BBC Your Voice she did not get any post from the beginning of May to June and had to collect it herself from the sorting office.

She added the delay meant she missed a deadline for paying a parking ticket, which increased its cost from £60 to £100.

Royal Mail said: "Posties are delivering across Hailsham every day from the local delivery office serving the area."

A spokesperson continued: "Across our network around 92% of letters are currently arriving on time, with over 99% arriving within a week.

"It would be exceptionally rare for mail to be delayed for two or three weeks."

Coupland described the postal service as "failing", saying: "It has definitely gone downhill.

"They're not doing what they're supposed to do - their first and foremost point of call is the post.

"They're letting the town down. They're letting people down," the 48-year-old continued.

"I am really annoyed."

However, Coupland added she wanted to "big up" posties.

"They have always been so lovely, kind [and] happy."

"They've seemed proud to be in the job... but I'm not seeing that pride anymore. I'm seeing resentment.

Kim Monday, another Hailsham resident, told BBC Your Voice she also did not have any mail delivered for the "best part of three weeks" between May and June.

But she added issues with her post had been "going on for ages".

In the run up to Christmas 2023, the MP for Wealden, Nus Ghani, was contacted by several Hailsham residents whose deliveries were not arriving "for over a fortnight".

Monday detailed she had had a card posted two weeks before her birthday in March delivered three days late.

She also said she received campaign material related to May's local elections days after the vote had taken place.

Monday, an ex-NHS employee, warned that people could be missing important medical appointments if letters were not delivered on time.

"That is the main thing that worries me," she says.

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