McArthur meets with senior Royal Mail representatives to discuss recent postal disruption 

Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur has today met with senior representatives of Royal Mail in Orkney to discuss recent disruptions to postal deliveries. 

Mr McArthur urged Royal Mail to make the visit to Orkney during a meeting held earlier this year at the Scottish Parliament, to better understand the impact of the disruption to deliveries and the action required to rectify the issue. 

Constituents and local businesses have continued to report delays with deliveries in recent months. 

Further to the meeting, Mr McArthur said:

“After the concerns I have been raising on behalf of constituents over recent months, I welcome the fact that senior representatives have been in Orkney to look at what needs to be done to build resilience into this crucial service.

“During my meeting today, I was told that agreement has been reached to increase staffing levels and that recruitment is already well underway. It was confirmed that there is also more cover across different routes than has been the case in the recent past. 

“The issue of delays in post arriving into Orkney by plane was also discussed. I was assured that the situation has improved, with Loganair building in more resilience to their operations. Hopefully this will result in a more steady flow of mail which, in turn, will allow deliveries to be managed more effectively.

“Given the recent problems, however, Royal Mail acknowledged that it would take time to rebuild public confidence. It will also require the business to be more proactive in communicating with the public when things do go wrong and getting issues sorted quickly. 

“I will continue to keep a close eye on the situation locally over the coming months, but hope the steps outlined at today’s meeting do result in greater resilience and reliability of the service, in the interests of customers but also Royal Mail staff”.