There have been some areas that have not received Royal Mail deliveries in over a week.

Cllr Paul Donovan, the ward councillor for Wanstead Village, has reported that there have been continued postal delays around Wanstead, with some people reported to have not received any mail in over a week.

The Royal Mail has been instructed by chief executive Simon Thompson to shift focus from delivering letters for people and businesses, to delivering more packages due to lockdown restrictions.

With many shops and businesses shut due to the current lockdown, people have been more reliant on packages and deliveries than usual.

And with the surge of packages, alongside with staffing shortages and social distancing restrictions, there have been many delivery and letter delays over the past few months.

The Royal Mail has now confirmed that the lack of deliveries in Wanstead is due to staff shortages at the Leytonstone delivery office.

Cllr Donovan said: “Whilst understanding the problems being caused, I am concerned that people will not be getting vital mail, such as letters notifying of Covid vaccinations, etc.

“I do hope this situation can be resolved as soon as possible.”

In January, Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing explained to her constituents that she met with the National Service Delivery Director who gave her his assurance that he and his team are doing all they can to improve the service.

This comes after the Debden Sorting Office has been struggling to meet high volumes of post amid staffing shortages due to illness and staff isolating for more than a month.

Despite ongoing delays nationally, the Royal Mail was able to deliver 496m parcels during the last three months of 2020 in the Christmas period, which was 30 per cent higher than the same period in 2019.

Keith Williams, the chair of Royal Mail’s board, said it had faced “unprecedented parcel volumes” due to lockdown, which was made even more difficult to handle due to social distancing and staff absences.