A Royal Mail boss has pledged that improvements to the service in Southend are a priority.

The promise has come from area operations manager Mark Rush after Southend East and Rochford MP Sir Teddy Taylor stepped into the row over the town's mail service.

Mr Rush told Sir Teddy: "I am aware of the quality of service performance within Southend and indeed acknowledge that current performance leaves room for improvement.

"This remains my priority and I assure you is being addressed through a series of initiatives to facilitate us improving our overall service to our customers in Southend and the surrounding area."

The intervention of Sir Teddy comes after a meeting between Mr Rush and Southend Council's leader and chief executive.

Complaints about the state of postal deliveries across the borough have brought calls for the old Short Street sorting office to be re-established to boost the service.

But Royal Mail has refused to restore full sorting office facilities - because Romford and Chelmsford boast hi-tech sorting equipment. Sir Teddy has been in touch with Mr Rush about what he calls an "apparent decline" in the effectiveness of the mail service.

He said: "I have had many complaints about letters taking several days to be delivered although they are first class post and there does seem to be quite a serious problem.

"Mr Rush does accept that the quality of service in Southend leaves room for improvement and he is taking some initiatives to try to improve things.

"He has also had a meeting with the chief executive and leader of the council."

He added: "It does seem to be quite a serious issue and I am very concerned indeed about all the changes taking place which do not appear to have improved the service at all but seemed to have actually contributed and been accompanied by a deterioration."

In a written reply to Sir Teddy, Mr Rush said that he had met with representatives of Southend Council to assure them that the town was still "an integral and pivotal unit in Royal Mail's future plans".

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