Watford's Post Service In Chaos

12 September 2011, 13:44 | Updated: 12 September 2011, 15:32

Large numbers of people in Watford are having problems with their post because of a new delivery system introduced by Royal Mail.

For several weeks now MP Richard Harrington's been receiving complaints from residents whose deliveries have been late or not come at all.

He's arranged a meeting with Royal Mail managers later this month to address the problem and says people should be compensated ''If there is evidence that money's been lost by people who've not received items in the post to do with their business where they've actually lost money or suffered financial disadvantage, they should be held liable for it.''

He thinks the service could be improved by Royal Mail being partly privatised ''The Royal Mail complain that their monopoly is under threat - I was quite indifferent to that argument but now it seems to me they need some of that kind of thing to make them give a better service to the public.''

We spoke to Collections and Deliveries Director Gary Burgess from Royal Mail who told us the situation is down to teething problems ''We will respond to individual concerns, but I just need to reiterate that this is part of an overall transformation programme with a massive, massive investment into the postal service for the Watford and all of it's surrounding postcode areas.''

He also told us residents will have to get used to later deliveries ''We are trying to get the balance right between providing a reliable service that can cope with the decline in letters at a price that people can afford to pay and it's always a difficult balance.''