Archive for April, 2010

Dear Customer,

The closure of airspace in the UK and parts of Europe, continues to cause disruption to UK domestic mail, which travels by air at night and mail due to either leave or enter the UK via UK airports.

We have robust contingency plans in place to keep as much mail moving as possible using alternative road and rail networks to replace aircraft. However, despite these contingency arrangements, there may be a small delay to mail being delivered in some areas for as long as this situation lasts.

We’re really sorry for any unavoidable inconvenience this causes, but please be assured we’re monitoring the situation closely and doing all we can to keep disruption to an absolute minimum. We will get all services back to normal as soon as the situation allows us to.

Deliveries & Collections
Deliveries and collections continue to be unaffected and will continue to take place as normal across the UK.

In Scotland, Northern Ireland as well as parts of South West and North East England, mail deliveries may be lighter than usual as transporting mail to and from some parts of the UK will take longer than usual using alternatives to air transport. Additionally, in other areas of the UK, there may be a small delay to mail as a result.

Special Delivery™
The guarantee for Special Delivery™ items remains suspended as the continued closure of airspace across the UK is impacting on our ability to transport mail between the more remote parts of the UK. We are closely monitoring the changing situation regarding airspace closure, and reviewing the temporary suspension of the guarantee regularly.

In the meantime, we are continuing to accept and prioritise Special Delivery™ items and we are confident that if customers use this service, the vast majority of Special Delivery™ items will arrive on time.

We are continuing to make every effort to deliver these items and will restore the guarantee of next day delivery as soon as we can be sure we can honour the Special Delivery™ service promise in all areas.

Royal Mail Tracked™
We are continuing to accept Royal Mail Tracked™ items as usual and items posted to mainland UK destinations are unlikely to be impacted by the closure of UK airspace. Items posted to and from areas usually more reliant on air services, such as to and from Northern Ireland, and to the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man, may experience a slight delay.

Regular updates about Special Delivery™, national and international mail services will continue to be made available on our website www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates.

International Mail
International mail due to leave or enter the UK is still affected by the closure of airspace, as a result of the Icelandic volcano. As no mail is entering or leaving the UK by air at present, delays to international mail are therefore inevitable.

We are sorry we cannot currently estimate how long international mail will be affected by this unavoidable event, but we are continuing to deploy and review contingency plans, to keep as much of our customers’ mail moving as possible.  For further information about disruption to international mail, visit www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates.

We will continue to update our web pages (www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates) about the status of mail services throughout this period.  You can also keep up to date with services on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RoyalMail

Regards,

Royal Mail Customer Services