THE Royal Mail has assured residents in the west of Thurrock that its staff are working hard to try and overcome a backlog of deliveries of letters and parcels.

Residents in Grays and Purfleet are among many who have taken to social media recently to complain that they have not had deliveries.

In December Royal Mail expressed its gratitude to residents for their patience - but they have now conceded the problem still remains because of absences caused by coronavirus.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "As you can imagine, Royal Mail just like other businesses across the country are experiencing absences due to coronavirus.

"Even with these challenges, the sorting office at Grays is working hard to deliver a normal service.

"Every item of mail is important to Royal Mail.

"We are working hard to deliver the most comprehensive service we can to all our customers in challenging circumstances.

"Despite our best endeavours, it is possible that some areas of the country may on occasion experience a temporary reduction in service levels due to coronavirus-related absences and necessary social distancing measures at their local mail centre or delivery office.

"In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing a normal service as quickly as we can. We always endeavour to keep our customers as informed as we can of any changes to our services.

"We have a dedicated section on our website.

"Throughout this crisis, every decision we make puts the health of our people and customers first.

"We were the first UK company to put in place social-distancing measures in relation to parcel delivery. We pioneered contact-free delivery. Standard ways of working have been revised to ensure that colleagues stay two metres apart at all times".

The Grays sorting office has been one of the worst affected in the region and even suffered the loss of a [L]https://thurrock.nub.news/n/wife-friends-and-colleagues-at-grays-royal-mail-depot-pay-tribute-to-popular-and-much-respected-mark-jeffryes [L+] much-loved postal worker. [.L.]