Melton postal workers said to be ‘exhausted’ and tearful

That stark picture was painted by a staff member at the Thorpe Road site who declined to be named for fear of losing his job but who felt it was important to highlight issues affecting him and many of his colleagues.

The employee says thousands of parcels and letters are not being delivered when they should be each week and opening hours have been cut back at the caller’s office leaving many residents angry that they cannot pick them up when they’ve been returned there.

The staff member told the Melton Times: “We want to to offer the best service possible to the people of Melton but all senior management seem to want to do is save money.

“I have never seen anything as bad as this, never seen so many unhappy people, staff members in tears and physically and mentally exhausted - it’s a disgrace.”

Of the 70 employees at the Melton delivery office, seven have taken leave with long term mental health issues, including staff, the employee says.

“For the past five weeks thousands of letters and hundreds of parcels are not being delivered when they should be because we have no staff and everyone else is tired and demoralised and don’t want to work overtime because of the way they are treated,” the staff member said.

“We have worked all the way through the Covid pandemic.

“In the first year, the parcel levels were at the same level as Christmas, every day, due to people ordering what they needed online - people here are exhausted.”

Opening hours for all Royal Mail caller’s offices were reduced when the pandemic started to help staff cope with the extra demands on them.

Melton’s office was open to callers nine hours a day before the Covid crisis but staff have been told this will be cut back from three hours a day to just two, between 8am and 10am, which the employee will cause more unrest among members of the public.

The staff member added: “Our caller’s office has been on temporary opening times about three hours each day and this has caused major problems as people haven’t been able to collect their parcels in the afternoons.

“We have had abusive phone calls, people trying to kick the door in, people banging on windows and being abusive, even people entering the building.

“We feel it’s disgusting that the people of Melton won’t be able to get a parcel when they need it.”

Royal Mail said it was committed to alleviating issues raised by the Melton employee.

A spokesperson told the Melton Times: “The health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues is our number one priority at Royal Mail.

“We are working hard to support our colleagues in the Melton Mowbray delivery office as they look to deliver the best service possible and minimise any disruption that may be caused by a mix of COVID-related absences and annual leave.

“As part of this process, we are working to ensure all colleagues have a fair workload.

“This includes looking to offer overtime to those who want it and recruiting temporary staff if required.”

The spokesperson added: “We are also working closely with our union.

“We are fully committed to the wellbeing of the team.

“We offer a range of support services to our colleagues that cover both their physical and mental health.

“Our mental health support service offers 24/7 access to counselling, guidance and information.”

The CWU union, which represents postal workers, declined to comment directly on the issues raised at the Melton depot.

But a CWU spokesperson told the Melton Times: “Our members have been under tremendous pressure – not just now, but since the start of the pandemic.

“Despite this, they have done an incredible job in keeping the country connected.

“We ask the public to recognise the tremendous job CWU members are doing in frustrating and difficult circumstances.”