Royal Mail warns of delivery delays in 18 London areas due to Covid - see the full list

Royal Mail has warned of delays to deliveries across London due to a high number of Covid-related staff absences.

The disruption is affecting 18 delivery offices across the capital today (19 January), with the postal service attributing the cause to high levels of staff off sick or self-isolating at home.

It also blamed “resourcing” and “other local factors” for deliveries not running as normal.

Royal Mail has said the disruption means it may not be able to deliver six days a week across certain postcodes and has apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

Many parts of London have been hit by delays for weeks, and Tom Cullen, of East Dulwich, which is still affected, told LondonWorld he received his first Christmas card on January 13.

He said: “I received my first Christmas card on January 13, post dated to early December.

“I had a ULEZ charge come through and due to the delay I’m already out of the early payment window.

“I have a huge amount of respect for posties, but something is woefully wrong and it’s costing literally hundreds of pounds.”

Which areas are affected?

Royal Mail has confirmed that the following 18 delivery offices are affected by delays and disruption, as of 19 January:

• Barking DO (IG11)
• Camberwell (SE5)
• Cricklewood DO (NW2)
• East Dulwich DO (SE22)
• Golders Green DO (NW11)
• Hanwell (W7)
• Herne Hill DO (SE24)
• Holloway DO (N7)
• Hornsey DO (N8)
• Islington DO (N1 and N1C)
• Maida Hill DO (W9)
• Muswell Hill DO (N10)
• Rotherhithe DO (SE16)
• The Hyde DO (NW9)
• Upminster DO (RM14)
• West Norwood DO (SE27)
• West Wickham DO (BR4)
• Willesden DO (NW10 and NW26)

What has the Royal Mail said?

In a statement, the postal service said: “Deliveries are operating as normal across most of the country today.

“We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.

“In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as Covid-related self isolation, high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.

“In those cases we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.

“We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”