Billy Robinson, 28, of Lucerne Road, Wallasey, has described the "debilitating" reality of going weeks and sometimes months without receiving post from the Royal Mail. Since moving from Northampton two years ago, his post used to arrive daily like "clockwork" - but there has been a stark change in recent months.
Billy told the ECHO: "July 2026 was when we first noticed that we weren't getting our post as regularly as we usually do. I could look at my watch and know that literally in a few moments, our postie would be coming."
"At first, it was a week, then two weeks, then three weeks. And I'm thinking, have we just not had any letters and things that we should be waiting for? And then, in mid-August, he came one day, about a month after we had the last letters, and there was just an absolute bundle. So obviously, it had been a while, and they'd sort of just decided that we'd had enough to warrant a delivery."
Missed PIP forms and health insurance documents
For Billy and his partner Oliver, not receiving their post on time has meant far more than just missing the odd letter. He said: "Oliver has just recently re-applied for PIP [Personal Independence Payment], and we've been waiting for his forms to come through. That was a couple of weeks later than it should have been, and we had the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] on the phone asking, 'Where's the paperwork?'"
"I've just had some health insurance documents come through for my work because I'm on a company health insurance policy, and that took like a month, two months to get here. This is important health insurance documents for someone who is registered disabled waiting to get this all signed and sent back. And my work are asking me, 'Where's the insurance paperwork? We need to get it filed now because it is tax deductible,' so I have to go to HMRC [His Majesty's Revenue and Customs] as well."
Emotional and financial toll on disabled couple
The couple are both registered as having a range of disabilities, with Billy diagnosed with ADHD, autism, Tourette's, and OCD, while Oliver has autism, anxiety, and a degenerative disc disease in his spine. Billy said: "It's had a big impact, because we're two disabled people that are relying on the post network to deliver really important documents that are not coming."
Billy added: "It's debilitating to be honest, because I'm trying to work, I'm trying to just live a normal life like everyone else, and yet I'm being harassed for documents back from my work that should be here and should have been delivered on time."
"We're worrying about our money, about finances, because I work, he doesn't, we're trying to get things in place, arrangements, we're having to make other financial arrangements because these forms are just not arriving. It's just stressful."
Royal Mail response and performance figures
While a busy work schedule makes it difficult for Billy to call into his local sorting office or phone Royal Mail's customer service, Oliver's efforts to reach out have been unsuccessful. Billy said: "Ollie tried to get them on the disability service for deaf people, the text line, and they didn't reply. And this has been like over a month, and they've not come back to us at all."
"A bit of communication goes a very long way, especially when you are worried about finances and letters and important work documents. I don't feel like I can rely on the post service to deliver me really important information without paying through the teeth for it to be sent via a signed service. So what should be an affordable 'pop it in the postbox, you know it's going to be there in a few days,' now it could be weeks."
While they have been without their usual post for prolonged periods, Billy said they have been receiving signed and tracked deliveries from Royal Mail as usual. A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "We know how important it is that customers receive their mail when expected, particularly important correspondence relating to healthcare and benefits."
"We take these concerns seriously and will raise them with the local delivery office."
"Our latest published figures show a significant improvement in performance in the CH postcode area, which includes Wallasey. Over the past 12 months, First Class next-working-day delivery performance has risen from 79.3% to 86.9%."
"We know there is more to do and are investing £500 million over five years to improve reliability and provide a more consistent service for customers."
