A PENSIONER was left without post for almost two weeks after a “high level of absence” at the Royal Mail.

Posties haven’t been able to complete their rounds as usual across Southend and Leigh, leaving residents without any letters or parcels.

John Gosling, 86, of Leigh Hall Road, went 11 days without having anything pushed through his door.

Eventually, on Monday, a whole host of letters two inches thick was handed to him on his doorstep.

However, the postal worker told him the issues are set to continue.

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Royal Mail has said it delivers six days a week but “if resourcing issues and self-isolation requirements” prevent this they will deliver at least every other day.

Mr Gosling said: “I was waiting for my disability form to come through for my blue badge.

“I’ve now had to explain why it was so late at the bottom of the form.

“I hadn’t had to do it for 20 years and then it couldn’t even get to me.

“I was also waiting for tickets to go and see my sister in Cheshire.

“My neighbours either side of me still haven’t had anything, and they’ve got parcels waiting to be delivered.

“From what the postie was saying, I suspect that Covid has run rife.

“You can’t really blame them for that, but they needed to let people know what was going on.

“It’s a nightmare when you rely on the post like me.

“I was just glad this man was fit enough to be able to deliver my post.”

Earlier this year, Royal Mail had similar issues, with staff isolating and social distancing rules enforced.

Addresses in Southend were affected at the time.

Deliveries were temporarily halted in Benfleet a year ago, due to a number of staff testing positive for Covid.

Kimberley O’Connell, 46, of Eastwood, added: “We’ve had sporadic post recently, and I know people who haven’t had parcels delivered for a while.

“It really isn’t great if you rely on the post.

“A lot of my bills are done online, but for the elderly that isn’t the case. We haven’t seen our postman yet this week.”

A spokesman from Royal Mail, said: “In some areas in Southend and Leigh, we are experiencing some disruption to service due to high levels of absence. The situation is improving.

“We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.

“If resourcing issues and self-isolation requirements prevent this, we’ll deliver at least every other day.

“We apologise to customers for any inconvenience they may experience as we work hard to resolve the situation.”