Relief for staff and customers as Royal Mail rules on Lancaster office opening hours

Ms Smith said Royal Mail had confirmed to her that the opening hours at the Fenton Street office would remain as they are.

Last month Ms Smith wrote to Royal Mail urging them to reconsider their plans to shorten the hours at the the office.

Customers had heard concerns that the hours would be changing from 8am-4pm Monday-Friday to just two hours each day, with the potential that the customer service point may in future close entirely.

"This was absolutely not on," Ms Smith said. "It’s already a faff to miss a parcel delivery and make it to the collection point in time before they close!

"However, I am delighted to announce that Royal Mail have now confirmed to me that they will not be reducing the opening hours here!"

Ms Smith said Royal Mail is currently conducting a review of all of its customer service points, with the first stage of this resulting in all current locations being preserved.

However, they are now reviewing opening hours to ensure they “match customer demand”.

"Thankfully, in response to the pressure I put on them, they have now ruled out making any changes to the opening hours in Lancaster," Ms Smith said. "This will come as a huge relief to the business and personal customers who regularly use the service along with the staff whose jobs were potentially put at risk by the cut in hours."

The response sent by Royal Mail’s senior public affairs manager top the Lancaster MP said: “In November we announced a review of our 1,200 Customer Service Points to determine the optimum number of locations following a c.50 per cent drop in footfall since the pandemic.

"Having completed the first stage of the review, and considered a range of options, we have decided to maintain the current estate of Customer Service Points as we seek to further improve our first-time delivery rates.

"Following successful trials. Royal Mail will additionally roll out automatic next day redeliveries for missed parcels in the coming months.

"This is designed to make it even easier for customers to receive parcels at home, without the need to travel to a Customer Service Point.

"This initiative builds on the introduction of a range of alternative delivery options for greater convenience in recent years, including free redelivery, delivery to a neighbour, the option to leave parcels in a safeplace and inflight redirections through the Royal Mail app and www.royalmail.com.

"As footfall continues to decrease, the next stage of this review will focus on ensuring that Customer Service Point opening hours match customer demand.

"I would like to assure you however, there are no current plans to reduce the opening hours at the Lancaster Delivery Office.”

Ms Smith added: "Royal Mail need to see the value in accessible collection points and I’m delighted that they’ve changed their approach.

"I hope this offers some much-needed reassurance to the customers who contacted me, and no doubt many others who would be significantly inconvenienced by the drastic changes that were on the table."