The worst towns to receive first-class post have been revealed – with some areas seeing almost one in three letters arriving late.
Official figures show Royal Mail is failing to hit first-class delivery targets in any of the UK’s 124 postcode areas, despite the cost of a first-class stamp having soared from 76p in 2020 to £1.80 today.
The worst affected area is Paisley near Glasgow, but other badly hit regions included Blackburn and Burnley, Hull, Teesside, Stockport, Oxford, Ilford, Croydon, Newport and Maidstone.
All have a level of first-class service below 70 per cent, despite regulator Ofcom setting a target of 90 per cent of letters arriving the next working day.
In total, Royal Mail managed to deliver just 77 per cent of first-class post on time last year.
The firm also admitted paying out more than £5.5million in compensation to disgruntled customers last year, mainly for lost or delayed deliveries.
Dennis Reed, director of campaign group Silver Voices, said: ‘Royal Mail appears to have an objective of jettisoning its letter delivery service in favour of parcels and is doing this by dampening demand through astronomical stamp prices and poor delivery performances.
‘It will be pensioners who lose out…Many are already missing key health appointments and bill deadlines as letters are not delivered on time.’
Official figures show Royal Mail is failing to hit first-class delivery targets in any of the UK’s 124 postcode areas
A list showing the towns where first-class post is most unreliable
Royal Mail was fined £21million by Ofcom in October for missing targets.
It also delivered just 92.5 per cent of second-class post on time in 2024-25.
It has vowed to meet its letter delivery target by May 2027 as part of a £500million turnaround, which includes a plan to axe its regular Saturday second-class deliveries.
It says it will improve first-class, next-day delivery to around 85 per cent within nine months, before reaching the 90 per cent target within a year.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘When all addressed mail is taken into account, more than 92 per cent arrives on time.’
