Postie blasts mail 'chaos' (From Stroud News and Journal)

Postie blasts mail 'chaos'

A FORMER postie has hit out at the way the delivery of mail is being handled in Stroud.

Kevin Ellis of Paganhill claims using untrained agency staff as postal workers is not fair on them nor on the public they are supposed to serve.

The mail in Mr Ellis' own area has been arriving late and going to the wrong houses. "This was in the Mathews Way estate but I'm sure you'll find the same problems wherever they're relying on agency staff," he told the News & Journal.

"It can't possibly be cost effective to pay agency rates for such long shifts." "Last Saturday we had an agency kid thrown on our estate blind," he said.

"He'd had no training whatsoever so everything went to the wrong address. "It's not their fault and no-one can blame them for taking the work if it is offered but the bottom line is that without proper training they're going to get it wrong."

Mr Ellis now believes that his passport, which he was expecting in the post, is one of the many items to be posted through the wrong letterbox.

He called on Royal Mail to put its house in order and give Stroud the postal service it deserves.

Adrian Booth, a spokesman for the postal service, apologised for any problems in Stroud but gave assurances it was a short-term difficulty.

"We've had some recruitment difficulties in the area and obviously rather than drop services to our customers we did take on some temporary people," he said.

"Fortunately we've just had a big recruitment drive and we've got eleven new people starting.

"They go live in the next couple of weeks. "Our temporary staff are given basic health and safety training but they don't get the full three-day training we normally give.

"Obviously because of the temporary nature of the work our priority is getting them out there."

He said it was standard policy to bring in agency staff to get out the mail as and when necessary.