By Stephanie O'Connor

Massive backlogs in Formby’s sorting office are sparking fears Christmas presents and cards will go undelivered to houses around the village.

One customer has been waiting for a parcel to be delivered now for over a month.

The mother from Formby told the Champion she had ordered products off shopping website Amazon and expected them on October 22, 2010 by first class delivery.

She said; “I have been into the sorting office everyday and my complaints have fallen onto deaf ears.

"I was told that they had so many staff off sick that they were barely able to get letters out, let alone parcels.

“And because they now have a huge back log it’s worrying if parcels and letters are going to arrive on time for Christmas because they are only going to get busier.”

“No one seems to be able to tell me where the parcel is when I ask the reply is simply ”the parcel is not here“.”

The woman said she was informed the backlog had been caused by a shortage of staff due to a number of them phoning in sick and some either refusing or were unable to work over time.

She continued: “I even asked the postman and he said ‘we are very short staffed'.

However, Royal Mail have assured that while Formby Delivery Office were experiencing an ‘extremely high volume of parcels, they were doing everything they could to rectify the situation before the heights of the Christmas season.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: ”Due to an extremely high volume of parcels arriving at Formby Delivery Office there have been some delays but we have put in extra resources to deal with this and we expect deliveries to be operating as normal later this week."

"We are sorry that this particular customer has had a problem with a parcel delivery and we would urge her to contact Royal Mail customer services on 08457 740 740 who will investigate the complaint and respond to her.

Sorting offices around the country who are experiencing a similar backlog are taking extra measures to ensure the problem.

Emergency Sunday deliveries took place in the Dundee East area in a bid to clear a mountain of mail built up due to a new delivery system.

And in Leeds, Postmen will ditch the traditional postbag and do their rounds using a trolley, allowing them to deliver letters, parcels and packages all in one go. Rounds will be extended and covered by two postmen who will work together to deliver a higher volume of post.

Got a Formby story? Let us know by calling Stephanie O'Connor on 01704 392408 or by sending an email to s.oconnor@champnews.com