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Royal Mail Scraps Special Service That Guarantees Delivery Before Christmas

Royal Mail Scraps Special Service That Guarantees Delivery Before Christmas

Delivery of packages to Europe has also been temporarily halted

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

Royal Mail is scrapping its special delivery service that guarantees items posted tomorrow (Wednesday 23 December) will arrive by Christmas.

The move comes following Boris Johnson's announcement on Saturday that lockdown measures would be tightened over the festive period.

The special delivery guarantee service can still be used today and Royal Mail said it will continue to endeavour to deliver packages as soon as possible.

Royal Mail made the tough decision in light of the prime minister's announcement on Saturday.
PA

Announcing the news, it said: "In light of the changing coronavirus restrictions announced on Saturday 19 December 2020, we have made the difficult decision to make the following changes to our timed guarantees for our Special Delivery by 9am and 1pm services:

  • For Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm items posted on Wednesday 23rd December we are suspending our delivery guarantee.
  • While we cannot currently provide a guarantee that items posted on Wednesday 23rd December will arrive prior to Christmas due to the impact of the new coronavirus restrictions, we can assure you that we will be endeavouring to deliver all items as quickly as possible. We know how important this is.
  • Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm items posted up to and including Tuesday 22nd December remain unchanged."

Royal Mail has also suspended deliveries to Europe amid growing international fears about a new strain of coronavirus that has been identified in the UK, which is thought to be around 70 percent more transmissible.

This has prompted many countries to place restrictions on travel and imports from the UK.

Royal Mail has suspended deliveries to Europe.
PA

Royal Mail said: "This is a fast-moving situation and we are monitoring things on an hourly basis.

"We are working to keep as many international mail services running as possible given the current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements from the UK.

"Royal Mail has temporarily suspended all mail services to Europe, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland. We're closely monitoring the situation and are ready to open our services as soon as we are able to once the restrictions have been lifted.

"We're additionally experiencing delays to Canada and Turkey as air capacity is severely limited.

"We're working with our airline and postal/courier partners across the globe to maintain services, however delays should be expected. The number of countries we can access is changing daily."

Items already in the system will be held securely until they can be dispatched.

It comes after German delivery company DHL announced it was halting shipping to the UK and Ireland.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Christmas, UK News, Royal Mail