Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
 

Herne Bay MP, Roger Gale, on Friday ( 17th December ) visited Herne Bay sorting office to see for himself the backlog of letters and packets that has accumulated following the introduction of new delivery practices and exacerbated by recent snowfalls,
 
Following discussions with the Bay`s post men and women, with local Manager Marie Apps and with the District Manager, Jon Verrall, the MP said:
 
“The senior Manager, Jon Verrall, has given me a personal assurance that the current backlog will be cleared and delivered in time for Christmas and Marie  has told me that she now has sufficient additional staff to complete this task, with other managers themselves  delivering packages.
 
Delivery will not, of course, include items that are in the system around the country but have not yet reached Herne Bay and I fear that those who are awaiting the delivery of gifts purchased on line for wrapping and onward transmission to the final recipients may not receive them in time.  The weekend`s fresh fall of snow is also not going to make life any easier for a team that is, in some cases, working twelve hours a day to get the post delivered and I would caution that the delivery undertaking was given to me before the Saturday blizzard.
 
It is easy to be wise after the event, of course, but I remain of the view that to change the delivery pattern in the run up to what is obviously the very busiest time of the year was sheer folly. Christmas has, after all, been in the calendar for quite a long time!
 
Once Christmas is behind us I shall wish to meet again with Royal Mail Managers to ensure that the service is got back on track and that my constituents once again receive a satisfactory and efficient service.
 
In the meantime, I am most grateful to those many of my constituents who have taken the trouble to inform me of their personal experiences and which I have endeavoured to relay faithfully to Royal Mail Head Office”..

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