International postal services have finally been reinstated in post offices, more than a month after Royal Mail was hit by a cyber attack.
The January 10 breach caused a backlog that resulted in lengthy delays for customers across the UK.
Most services had already been restored online but remained unavailable in 11,500 post offices.
Royal Mail said it was now handling “near normal daily volumes” of international mail with “some delays”.
“International export services have now been reintroduced to all destinations for online purchases and through our shipping solutions,” the spokesperson added.
Following last month’s ransomware attack, Royal Mail customers were told to stop sending parcels and mail abroad altogether.
Customers – many of them small companies – complained about long delays that made it impossible to ship goods abroad.
A Russia-affiliated ransomware group called Lockbit claimed responsibility for the cyber incident.
- When will the post office go on strike again?
- Royal Mail hit by Russia-related ransomware attack
- Russian-Canadian arrested for ransomware attack
Royal Mail gradually restored online services, with the option to drop off items at a post office or have them collected from home.
But Neill O’Sullivan, managing director of parcels and mail at the Post Office, said postmasters have not been able to “support businesses and consumers” who want to send parcels and mail abroad.
“For many small businesses, post offices are an integral part of their business structure and this has been a challenging time for them,” he said.
“The past few weeks have been difficult for postmasters who, through no fault of their own, missed compensation for providing international postal services,” he added.
The post office said it is giving postmasters extra money to handle international mail in new fixed payments for each transaction.
The problems have coincided with ongoing strikes by Royal Mail postal workers, which have impacted domestic deliveries.
On strike days, the postal company could not deliver first and second class letters. However, it does say it will deliver as many parcels and special delivery letters as possible.
Add Comment