Pegasus stalls

7:30am Friday 5th September 2008

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“Teething problems” with a new delivery system have led to dozens of businesses and households in Watford and Three Rivers receiving no mail this week.

Royal Mail’s new Pegasus system was described as an “absolute shambles” by one business owner while local residents said important letters, bills and cheques had failed to arrive.

Terry Douris of Audio and Visual company Stage Two, based in Imperial Way, Watford, said he had been told this week’s mail would be delivered at noon yesterday. At the time of going to print he had still not received it.

He added: “The funniest thing is that they allegedly sent out a letter on Friday telling us about the new system and it hasn’t arrived because of the problems.”

Avril Alter, 63, from Alexandra Muse, Watford runs a publishing business and has also been affected by the problems.

She said: “It’s ridiculous. If I don’t get post with cheques in it’s not very good with me. The bank will soon be on to everyone if they go into their overdraft because of it.”

South Oxhey resident Carol Lewis said she was “furious” at the lack of post.

She said: “I’m going to lose a job over it as I’m waiting for a job application which hasn’t arrived. Another neighbour has heart problems and is waiting for a letter from hospital. It’s just not on.”

Trevor Flowers, communications officer for the Communication Workers' Union at the Royal Mail sorting office in Ascot Road, Watford, said: "There's a new delivery system called Pegasus. They've replotted the walks by putting them into a computer, reduced them by quite a few and then replotted them. The problem is that doing it has completely changed the sorting. Of course, it's a learning curve.

"It's a new system and it's got to bed in. There will be glitches and there have been glitches. I think Royal Mail could have been more proactive in informing the public what's going on.

“There are teething problems but I am sure we will iron them out.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: ""Royal Mail is absolutely committed to delivering the mail to our customers six days a week. From time to time we do revise the delivery schedules in a particular office to ensure that we are as efficient as possible.

"A revision of schedules has taken place in Watford which may have resulted in a change of delivery times for some business customers.

"All business deliveries are being completed by lunchtime and a collection facility is available for any business which would like to collect their mail from the Royal Mail office."