Residents of Egerton Gardens have had to put up with delays to their post for over a month, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Royal Mail has apologised to residents of a Hendon street where “resourcing issues” have led to long delivery delays – with one claiming they’d gone weeks without post.

Residents of Egerton Gardens, a cul-de-sac near Middlesex University, have had to put up with delays to their post for over a month.

A Royal Mail spokesperson apologised for the issues, which the company admits are caused by staff shortages, and said post is being delayed by two days “at most”.

But one Egerton Gardens resident has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the delays are far longer.

The resident, who didn’t wish to be named, said he’d gone weeks without receiving post and that with the exception of a couple of days the delays had been ongoing since “mid-March”.

He claimed the problem was likely affecting more than just his street and that it had led to locals having to reorder items such as “bank cards and passports”.

A local postie also told him that post was “all sat there in piles” inside the local delivery office in Edgware Road and that “management didn’t care”.

The resident added: “The post is still missing, I have not received three weeks of The Economist magazine and I know of people who have had to reorder bank cards.”

Royal Mail has denied the resident’s claims. A spokesperson said: “The delivery office has experienced recent resourcing issues which, at times, has impacted deliveries. We have a solution in place with recruitment ongoing and the employment of additional agency workers.

“We would reassure residents that we are making deliveries across Barnet daily and endeavour to have all post delivered on time. If a person does not receive their mail on the day they expect, we will prioritise their address the following day. This has been the case at Egerton Gardens, where at most any delay to mail has been two days.

“We apologise for the inconvenience while we work to improve the service.”

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