Posties in line to get new vans

POSTIES in Shetland are set to take delivery of as many as 20 new vehicles, Royal Mail has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed on Friday that as part of a plan for replacing older vehicles five new vans have already been received, with a further 15 due to arrive in the isles over coming weeks.

Earlier this week, the Communication Workers Union was highly critical of the Royal Mail’s performance in the isles, saying there was an urgent need for investment in the service.

Postal workers union calls on Royal Mail to urgently invest in failing delivery service

The state of the fleet of mail delivery vans was on a list of shortcomings the union’s regional secretary for Scotland Craig Anderson was particularly critical of.

“The current fleet, we believe, is in poor condition, which is impacting on our reliability, and the delays in getting vehicles repaired is causing an issue,” Anderson told Shetland News earlier this week.

The Royal Mail however said that rather than “poorly maintained” the fleet was essentially just old.

“We have a plan in place for swapping the older vehicles out, with Lerwick receiving five new vehicles recently with a further 15 intended in the coming weeks. Further replacements will be made in line with the plan,” a spokesperson said.