A Brentwood mother has labelled the postal service appalling after an important parcel took almost three weeks to arrive.

Joanne Bugg, of Long Ridings Avenue, Hutton, blew a fuse when she ordered a replacement part for a vacuum cleaner and it failed to turn up.

Mrs Bugg owns two Persian cats and is anxious that any cat hairs are regularly cleaned up to prevent her 18-month-old son Daniel suffering an allergy attack.

The 32-year-old housewife asked manufacturers Dyson to dispatch the part again - but the postman never rang her bell.

She said: "A man from the sorting office in Brentwood told me over the phone there were only two of them working. A few days later I went in person to report that two parcels had gone missing. The man put my paper on a list with four or five names already on it so I am obviously not the only one with non-delivery complaints.

"I want to know what they are doing about it. If they have a backlog they need to take on extra staff to cope with it."

On March 29 she finally received news of the parcels that had been posted in Wiltshire on March 11 and March 20.

She said: "There was a card through my letter box asking me to wait two hours before collecting them from the sorting office in St Thomas Road - but by then the office was closed for the weekend and I had to wait until Monday."

A spokesman for Royal Mail admitted there had been a backlog of parcels at Brentwood caused by recruitment problems at the office.

She said: "However we are pleased to say that we have now taken on a number of new entrants and are continuing to recruit. The parcel backlog is now almost clear and we are investigating changes to the way of working in the office to reduce the chances of a similar situation occurring in the future."

The Royal Mail customer helpline is 0845 7740740.

Published Monday, April 14, 2003

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