Royal Mail hits yearly target in Telford but falls short in Shrewsbury

But the company fell short in the Shrewsbury area, blaming bad weather, power failures and outside events.

The company sets itself an overall national target of 93 per cent to deliver first class mail the next working day.

Royal Mail's latest Quality of Service report reveals it met targets in the postcode areas of Shrewsbury and Telford, for the last quarter of the financial year 2014-15.

In the TF postcode, which covers Telford, Broseley, Market Drayton, Much Wenlock, Newport and Shifnal, the delivery rate for quarter four of 2014-15 was 94.1 per cent.

The delivery rate for the entirety of the financial year was 93.9 per cent, meeting the company's national target.

In the SY postcode area, covering Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Church Stretton, Ludlow, Whitchurch, Newtown, Welshpool, and Llanfyllin, the rate was 93.3 per cent for the final quarter of the year.

However, the overall figure for the year fell below slightly below the 93 per cent target, with a figure of 92.6 per cent.

Geoff Braden, Royal Mail operations director, said staff work hard to ensure the targets are met, but said sometimes problems arise, meaning the target is unattainable.

He said: "Our postmen and women work extremely hard in the SY and TF postcode area and across the UK to deliver to these demanding targets, which are some of the highest in Europe.

"I would like to thank all our people for their ongoing commitment and dedication. More than ever, our focus is to continuously improve and maintain high standards of service for all our customers."

The company said reasons for areas which failed to meet its national target of 93 per cent were adverse weather conditions, postal delays caused by external events including the Commonwealth Games and Tour de France, and power failures at mail centres up and down the country.

Nationally, Royal Mail also exceeded its Second Class mail target of 98.5 per cent delivering 98.9 per cent within three working days.