The allure of the Isle of Mull is its sense of apartness. In summer, flocks of tourists make the 45-minute crossing from the mainland to sample life on the edge. From the point of view of its 3,000 residents, modern transport and communications have brought them closer to the rest of the country than ever. But now, thanks to Royal Mail, islanders fear they are being returned to isolation.
For the last three years, parts of Mull have been cut off from mail deliveries for days. Since March, those days have turned into weeks.
Residents have missed hospital appointments, bank cards and passports have been held up, and penalty charge notices gone unpaid. A former postman suggests there are 50 cages of mail bound for Mull stranded in the mainland sorting office in Oban.
Last week, households in the village of Dervaig and the surrounding area, a 40-mile postal round, were informed that their temporary postal worker could no longer oblige due to reduced ferry timetables.
They would have to collect their post from Tobermory, the main town. That’s a 45-minute round trip over mountain roads for those with a car; an hour on the occasional buses.
The tiny Scottish community is one of numerous “postal deserts” across the UK where first-class mail can take two weeks to arrive. From Brighton to Bromley in north London, from Salford to Lerwick, daily deliveries are a privilege of the past as strikes, staff and vehicle shortages plunge Royal Mail’s performance to a record low.
Last week, the communications regulator Ofcom announced it was opening an investigation after new figures showed it failed to meet its performance targets for 2022/23. More than 11% of delivery rounds were missed and more than a quarter of first-class mail didn’t arrive within one working day.
According to Georgia Satchel, an artist who lives in the north of the island, the universal service obligation, which requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to all UK addresses six days a week, has a vital impact on remote communities.
“Living in a beautiful place is a balancing act,” she says. “Weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, the peace and quiet versus the inconvenience and expense. The multi-crises of no postal service and ferry breakdowns is tipping that balance.”
Gordon Chalmers, a ex-postman turned delivery driver in Dervaig, missed an urgent cancer referral after receiving no post for a week.
“I thought it was strange when no letter arrived,” he says. “I called the hospital in Glasgow and was told that I was meant to be there in 10 minutes. It takes five hours to get to Glasgow from Dervaig.” His biopsy was rescheduled for the following week and he was given the all-clear.
Tobermory resident Angus Stewart also missed a hospital check-up because the notification was held up for two weeks in the Oban sorting office. “It said that missed appointments cost the NHS £140 which was deeply embarrassing,” he says. “I had to wait four weeks for a new date. I worry for those who have waited months for critical appointments.”
According to Mull community council, 75% of the island and neighbouring Iona is affected. “Some areas are experiencing as few as two letter deliveries per week,” says council member Mark Aston. “Where annual leave is taken, with no holiday cover in place, this drops to zero.”
Royal Mail tells complainants that reduced ferry services, due to winter timetables and ageing boats, have disrupted deliveries. Islanders, however, blame its management.
Postal vans are unable to board crowded ferries because, insiders say, the company fails to pre-book crossings, and some vans that do make it across are too poorly maintained to cope with the island’s potholed roads.
“Several of the council members have witnessed postal workers struggling with inoperable vehicles and resorting to their own cars to fulfil their rounds,” says Aston. “Local police have even stopped some Royal Mail vans for being unroadworthy.”
Fraser Kennedy resigned as postman for the Dervaig round in March when his van broke down for the sixth time in eight weeks. “This was a known problem with vehicles coming over from Oban with bald tyres, broken suspension and engine warning lights,” he says. “We were continually told there was nothing else available. If you reported a fault, you’d often get a repair date weeks later and, come the day, the vehicle wouldn’t be booked on the ferry and no replacement provided.
“All the roads on my route were narrow single-track, plus miles of rough, unmade roads in areas with poor or nonexistent mobile phone coverage. The only vehicle breakdown service is two hours away.
“I enjoyed my job, but when one van suffered complete electrical failure, and the replacement came with bald tyres, I decided I was no longer prepared to risk my licence by driving unroadworthy vehicles, or the safety of myself or others.”
According to Kennedy, the failure to book vans on the morning ferry meant the day’s post would sometimes reach the island after 2pm, and postal workers waiting on unpaid standby would be expected to work as late as 9pm to deliver it. “Although I was on a three-day contract, I worked six days a week for my last 10 weeks due to long-term absences. My pleas for help fell on deaf ears.
“If I didn’t turn up, I just came in the next day to a bigger pile of work, made worse by not knowing whether I’d be starting at 9:30am or 2pm.”
Jenni Minto, MSP for Argyll & Bute, says that Mull has been omitted from Royal Mail’s list of postcodes with disrupted service, and that she met officials this month to discuss urgent action. “The impact this is having on my constituents is not acceptable,” she says.
Royal Mail tells the Observer it is undertaking a review of its vehicles. “We are sorry to our customers who have experienced delays,” it says. “The service has recently been impacted by resourcing issues, including vacancies, sick absences, and travel disruption.
“We have plans to improve the quality of service. This includes engaging with the local ferry operator. New posties have been recruited to fill vacancies and cover sick leave, with a number expected to begin working this month.”
Mull residents think postal workers are being let down as badly as their customers because of management failings. “Just because we live on a picture-postcard island doesn’t mean our lives and businesses are in some way lesser than those on the mainland,” says Satchel.
“We, too, get cancer and need to go to hospital, we too need new bank cards, passports, insurance documents. The local posties have all gone above and beyond to deliver our mail under exceptionally difficult circumstances, but they’re all now either leaving or off sick. It is breaking them.”