Residents in Ham are furious after not receiving any Royal Mail post for three weeks.

Residents, specifically in the Ashburn Road, Woodville Road and Riverside Drive areas, have not been getting their post, including hospital letters and cards, for the past three weeks.

Residents in Ham had a similar problem at Christmas, which left them without post for two months.

It is thought that it is due to staff shortages, however, residents and councillors have not had an official response from The Royal Mail.

Cllr Andèe Frieze, for Ham, Petersham and Richmond said: "My concern is how much longer is this going to be going on for.

"They had the same problem at Christmas in Ham and that went on for two months. People didn't get their Christmas cards and people were worried about sending valuables things.

"So what I'm concerned about is how much longer this is going to go on for what are the problems causing it and if it is a staffing issue why are they not getting more staff and why is it only affecting Ham, it doesn't seem to be affecting other places.

"We understand staff were taken away from Ham and put to kew. Does Royal Mail not think my residents need their post? We aren't getting answers from anyone."

One of the residents, Keith Mulberry, who brought the issue to light said: "The first episode of non-existent Royal Mail letter post service in our area of Ham occurred at the end of 2022 into early 2023.

"For some six weeks in November and December 2022 we received no post whatsoever!! So, no Christmas cards etc., and when our Radio Times magazines were finally posted through our door six arrived together, and so of course went straight into the recycling bin!

"Even when our usual postman was put back on this round in early January 2023 it took him a further two weeks to clear the backlog."

He added that during the period of no post in November and January, their regular postman was taken off his regular round in Ham to cover a different round in Kew!

He said: "Does this mean Kew is a more important area than Ham, or that Ham is inferior to Kew?"

Their regular postman has now handed in his notice and left his job and so far, Keith has had no postman and no letters, since Monday 14 August, other than one delivery on 22 August.

Keith said: "We definitely know that numerous items have been posted to us that have not been delivered. They include many small online purchases, and such things as our Radio Times magazines - which of course will be out of date and useless when finally delivered. More importantly, we have hospital correspondence and letters of future hospital appointments not being delivered.

He added: "As for reporting complaints to Royal Mail, that 'service' is dire too!! After waiting for 30 minutes in a telephone queue, when one finally gets to speak to a customer service operator all they do is log the complaint, issue a reference number, and then give some lame excuse about staffing levels. However, they don't give any indication about when service will be back to 'normal', no follow up, and our past experience is that it was allowed to drag on without any ordinary letter post for two months."

Keith also received a 'one off' delivery of 'some' of the delayed post today (31 August), however, Keith said that this is not all of the post that they are missing.

He said: "I gather that this partial delivery was only achieved by someone on overtime and that at most we 'MAY' (or may not!) get a postal delivery every other day or the foreseeable future if we're lucky!

"This of course makes a mockery of the supposed 'First Class' and 'Second Class' letter postage rates, and even more so for the expensive rates paid on some of the items to us."

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "We are sorry to any residents who have experienced delays in Ham and the surrounding area. Improving quality of service is our top priority and we are committed to restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.

 "The local service has recently been impacted by staff shortages and sick absences. Mail continues to be delivered to the area and every effort is being made to keep delays to a minimum, this includes a recruitment plan.

 "We encourage anyone with concerns about the delivery of their mail to please get in touch with Royal Mail customer service on 03457 740 740 or via www.royalmail.com."