Shetland delivery beats local post (From Oxford Mail)

Shetland delivery beats local post

7:40am Saturday 8th November 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)

A pensioner from Oxford has been left baffled after a second class letter sent from a remote Scottish island arrived days before a first class letter was delivered from across the city.

Dr Alison Redmayne, who lives in Blenheim Drive, North Oxford, was pleasantly surprised when she saw from the postmark that the second-class letter from Unst, in the Shetland Islands, took only three days to arrive.

However, the 72-year-old was furious when she realised a first-class letter sent a day earlier from the Manor Hospital, in Beech Road, Headington, a couple of miles across Oxford from her home, took a week to arrive.

Dr Redmayne, a social anthropologist, signed for the letter from the Manor, which contained a series of scan reports following treatment for lymphatic cancer.

The hospital paid for the letter to be sent recorded delivery, but a Royal Mail spokesman said this should not have affected the arrival time.

She said: “I think it’s incredible that a letter from Unst can be posted second class and arrive in less time than it takes a letter to travel across Oxford.

“When a letter from the hospital is late, people start ringing up to find out if it has been sent and that wastes time.

“I think the postal service in Oxford is abysmal and you cannot rely on anything arriving on a particular day.”

The letter from Shetland was sent on October 29 and arrived on November 1, while the letter from Headington was sent on October 28 and arrived a week later on November 4.

Dr Redmayne also recently received a letter from Tanzania, in East Africa, which took just six days to arrive. She said the letter from Unst would have been taken by ferry to neighbouring island Yell, and then from Yell to be sorted in Lerwick, 60 miles from Unst, before being transported to the mainland.

Dr Redmayne added: “The letter has made quite a journey from the Shetland islands, but mail from there always arrives pretty promptly.

“Perhaps I would have got my scan documents quicker if they had been sent up to Shetland first, and I think postal staff in Oxford should be embarrassed by this.”

Jacquie Stenson, from the Royal Mail, said: “We are concerned to learn of the delay to this mail and would like to apologise for any inconvenience or distress caused to our customer.

“I would urge her to contact our customer services department providing the envelope and posting details so that we can make inquiries."

Royal Mail said that the bulk of first-class mail should arrive the next working day or the second working day at the latest.

In 2006, Dr Redmayne complained when Royal Mail removed a post box outside the Londis store in First Turn, Wolvercote, when building work began.

When the work was completed, the post box was not returned and Dr Redmayne led a residents’ campaign for eight months before Royal Mail relented.

Industrial action by postal staff in Oxfordshire last Autumn was followed by a Royal Mail announcement that the Oxford Mail Centre is to close in 2009.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)