The chaos at the sorting offices comes as Britain's ports struggle to cope. They are doing absolutely everything they can to keep the country connected.' It added: 'Pandemic + Christmas + record traffic.'īusinesses urged Royal Mail to be more transparent around its delivery times so they can give more realistic expectations to customers, with one saying it had received 'threatening' messages from people angry their order had not arrived, reports The Telegraph.Ī Government source told the publication that ministers were 'concerned' about the backlog but could not intervene because of Royal Mail's status as a private company.Ī spokesman for Ofcom, the postal regulator, said customers should take up complaints with retailers. Text accompanying the picture of the mountain of sacks, posted by a CWU official, read: 'Our members in Royal Mail are facing unprecedented workloads. Sorting offices are so inundated that staff are having to stack items outside, putting parcels at risk of being damaged by rain or even stolen. Ian Trehearne, branch secretary for Gloucestershire, said sorting offices have been 'flooded' and had been 'under the cosh' without let up since April. 'That coupled with the arrangements that are going to be in place to keep key workers safe because of Covid, and the rising spread of Covid, is complicating what is already a strategic nightmare.' Terry Pullinger, of the Communication Workers Union, said: 'We could not possibly have anticipated this level of packets and parcels, it seems to be intensifying every day. Many customers have complained about items arriving late, while John Lewis, Boots and HMV have blamed Royal Mail for delivery delays. Meanwhile delays with Christmas presents are threatening to ruin Christmas for families and businesses. Shoppers are desperately scrolling through slot times but finding they are fully booked or will not arrive until after December 25.Īsda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons all confirmed to MailOnline that they were grappling with a high demand for deliveries amid a festive rush. If your Christmas presents have been rather slow to arrive, this enormous pile of parcels may explain the delay. One image posted on Twitter displayed the huge pile of Royal Mail sacks in Bristol (pictured) It comes as a scarcity of online supermarket delivery slots risks sending scores of Christmas dinner plans up in smoke and many Christmas gifts are stuck waiting to arrive in Britain due to chaos at the ports. The Royal Mail has hired 33,000 temporary staff to help deal with demand. Union bosses are reporting similar scenes across the country and have described the Christmas delivery chaos as a 'nightmare' after businesses complained parcels were taking up to a month to arrive.Ī massive switch to online shopping means there are an estimated 200million more parcels in the postal and courier system this year. Online orders are expected to be up by more than 50 per cent as internet festive shopping overtakes the high street for the first time. One image posted on Twitter displayed the huge pile of Royal Mail sacks in Bristol.Ī second showed that sorting offices are so inundated that staff are having to stack items outside, putting parcels at risk of being damaged by rain or even stolen. Thousands of presents remain buried in mountains of post bags at sorting offices, it has been revealed. If your Christmas presents have been rather slow to arrive, this enormous pile of parcels may explain the delay.