Thousands of Christmas presents could remain undelivered to families across Swindon after Royal Mail scrapped its Special Delivery Guarantee.
Royal Mail’s special delivery guarantee, which should mean items posted on December 23rd arrive on Christmas Eve, has been suspended. The service can still be used today but there is no guarantee it will turn up this side of the 25th and you will also encounter long Post Office queues to get items into the delivery system.
Royal Mail said on its website yesterday: ‘In light of the changing coronavirus restrictions announced on Saturday, we have made the difficult decision to make the following changes to our timed guarantees for our special delivery by 9am and 1pm services.
‘For special delivery guaranteed by 9am and special delivery guaranteed by 1pm items posted on Wednesday December 23rd we are suspending our delivery guarantee.’
The company did however add: ‘We can assure you that we will be endeavouring to deliver all items as quickly as possible.’
The postal company have also temporarily suspended all mail services to Europe, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland.
It advises the public not to send international post “This is a fast-moving situation and we are monitoring things on an hourly basis. We are working to keep as many international mail services running as possible given the current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements from the UK.”
Any items already posted will still be processed and made ready for dispatch, but will be held securely until Royal Mail are able to get them to their destinations.
