FED up residents say they are waiting weeks for post despite thousands of workers being employed by Royal Mail.

The firm has hired about 33,000 temporary workers nationally in a bid to help permanent posties cope with the increased demand over the Christmas period.

It says its has seen an “exceptionally high” volume of parcels and letters being sent in addition to problems caused by the pandemic.

But some residents have complained their post has been more sporadic than usual with one person receiving more than 20 cards in single day having not had anything for two weeks.

Highwoods ward councillor Gerard Oxford has now taken up the issue and has accused Royal Mail of making excuses for the dip in service.

The Colchester campaigner said: “When it first started happening it felt reasonable, but as time has gone on nothing has improved and it feels pretty sporadic.

“I feel they are using coronavirus as an excuse to cover it up and when I contact them you do not get much of a response.

“We have actually just had two weeks when we have not got anything. We have just received a small parcel which we ordered months ago. Everyone is concerned and it is a bit of an issue.”

Councillor Lee Scordis (Lab, Old Heath and Hythe) said some of his constituents had not received post for more than a week.

He said: "Posties have had to do an extraordinary job in extraordinary times. 

"Royal Mail have had eight months to prepare for winter knowing it is the busiest month for post. 

"It is unacceptable that a whole area is just left with no post for a week, when they may be expecting urgent mail. 

"This needs to be resolved as soon as possible and with growing figures in unemployment, if staffing is an issue, then the Post Office should look to hire more staff."

A Harwich resident said she had only just received letters which were sent as long as two weeks ago.

She said: “I was given about eight letters in an elastic band in one go. In the bundle there was at least one letter which was about two weeks old.”

Lucy Palmer, 20, from Clacton, said she was also waiting two weeks for a Christmas parcel to be delivered even though the company said it had been dispatched.

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “Everyone at Royal Mail is working hard to deliver the most comprehensive and high-quality service we can.

“The combination of greatly increased uptake of online Christmas shopping means all delivery companies are experiencing exceptionally high volumes.

“Despite our best efforts and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than usual.

“We always endeavour to keep our customers as informed as we can of changes to our services.”