Our postal service is worst in mainland Britain
Latest Royal Mail figures show just 89.5 per cent of first-class letters were delivered on time in the ST postcode area between March and September.
That contrasts with the national average of 92.8 per cent and 93 per cent in South Cheshire between those dates.
But Royal Mail can no longer link the poor service to a series of strikes, which meant postal workers in Burslem spent last Christmas on picket lines.
Instead, union leaders are blaming Royal Mail for transferring 80 overnight sorting office staff from Stoke's Leek Road depot to Wolverhampton this summer.
More than 100 more Stoke positions are also expected to go to Wolverhampton early next year.
Lee Barron, Midlands regional secretary of the Communication Workers' Union, said today: "The quality of service seems to come second for Royal Mail because they are basing their performance on a downsizing programme which means Stoke-on-Trent's mail is going 40 miles down the road to be sorted. That is one of the reasons why the quality of service has suffered. Deliveries are getting later and later.
"Royal Mail should have come up with an option where Stoke-on-Trent's mail is sorted in Stoke-on-Trent. Instead, if someone has sent a letter from Hanley to Biddulph, it is getting sent to Wolverhampton, which is ridiculous.
"Royal Mail needs to get back to the principles of public service."
A breakdown of the ST performance shows 90.1 per cent of first-class mail was delivered on time between July and September, compared with 88.7 per cent in the previous three months.
That is an improvement on last year, when just 79.4 per cent of first-class mail was delivered on time to the strike-hit ST postcode area between April 2007 and the end of March.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The quality of service level for first-class mail in the ST postcode area is below the standard we expect and our customers deserve.
"All our efforts are focused on improving the service we deliver to our customers."
Government watchdog Consumer Focus has pledged to monitor postal performance in the ST area.
A spokesman said: "While targets for mail delivery in Stoke-on-Trent were not quite met, the figures are showing reasonable improvement and are generally heading in the right direction."
Comment on this story