Steve Brine dropped into the Winnall mail depot this morning to lend a hand with the Christmas post.
Steve Brine, prospective Conservative MP for Winchester rolled up his sleeves recently to help sort the Christmas post at Royal Mail’s depot in Winnall (Thursday 11 December).
He joined staff for the early shift to help sort the mail and batch it up for delivery. He also spent a period learning about the hugely increased workload of the collections office and met with managers when he put directly some of the concerns raised by residents.
“I wanted to ask about the delivery of parcels and special delivery items out in Micheldever. As residents there know all too well, it is a long trip into a congested area of the city when they have to collect an item. We may just have start of a work-around for this one which I will be following up with the Post office and Royal Mail early in the new year.
"There is also the ongoing concern around the re-allocation of rounds which can often see long-serving postmen moved to another area leaving residents angry at the sudden loss of a key plank of their community and I wanted to make sure Royal Mail understand the responsibility they have in this area. Finally, the biggest issue raised is always around the time of delivery which many residents feel is getting later and later. Sadly the reality of the situation in the much-changed marketplace of mail services is not straightforward and with postmen unable to leave the depot with a full round until 10am from January, I am far from reassured that is going to change anytime soon.”
“The team at Winnall are a really nice bunch of people and the one thing that shines through in every one of them is the desire to deliver a first-class service for their customers in Winchester. It is Christmas of course and there was much of the usual banter but it is no secret to say that morale on the shop floor in Winchester is low at the moment. There is real concern about all the changes taking place within Royal Mail and their likely effect on jobs, existing work practices and their ability to meet customer expectations in the future.”
Steve Brine’s visit comes as Ministers receive a long-awaited report on the future of the Royal Mail from Richard Hooper, the former deputy chairman of Ofcom. Unions fear some pretty tough messages will be contained and many expect a controversial recommendation will call on the taxpayer to meet the blooming cost of Royal Mail’s multi-million pound pension deficit.
Royal Mail faces call to change (from BBC News)
Steve Brine is pictured with postman Ian Fraser at the sorting office in Winnall Manor Road.