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Royal Mail has issued delivery disruption warnings for a number of postcode areas across the UK. It has warned that homes and businesses in affected areas should not expect their post to arrive on time.

As of Monday, May 18, alerts are in place for 23 postcode areas, including Bicester, New Ferry and Perth. Royal Mail said: "We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week. In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.

"In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers. We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive."

It added: "We're sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding." Over the past 24 hours, Royal Mail's air and road network has run to schedule.

However, further delays have been reported at Norwich Mail Centre. It said: "Some mail posted in the NR postcode area for delivery today in other parts of the UK."

Additional delays to postal services across the UK are expected next week due to the Spring Bank Holiday, with no collections or deliveries taking place, except in Ayr (KA6-KA8).

The delays come as Royal Mail pledged to meet its letter delivery targets by May 2027 as part of a £500million recovery plan. The company has faced mounting criticism over late deliveries, and was even handed a significant fine.

Royal Mail was fined £21million by Ofcom in October for failing to meet targets after it delivered just 77% of First Class post and 92.5% of Second Class post on time in 2024-25.

In a bid to meet the targets, Royal Mail intends to scrap its Saturday Second Class deliveries and switch to alternate weekdays - three days one week and two the next.

Royal Mail stated it will improve First Class Next Day delivery to approximately 85% within nine months, before hitting the 90% target set by regulator Ofcom within a year.

The firm also committed to delivering 93% of Second Class letters within three days over nine months, with a pledge to reach the 95% target by May next year.

• Ashington DO (NE22, NE62-NE64)
• Bicester DO (OX25-OX27)
• Folkestone DO (CT18, CT19, CT20, CT50)
• Ilfracombe DO (EX34)
• New Ferry DO (CH32, CH62, CH63)
• Perth DO (PH1, PH2, PH14)
• Tweedale DO (TF3, TF4, TF7, TF8, TF12)