The Postmaster General has pledged to try to clear a backlog of mail within four working days.

Over the Christmas period The Royal Gazette has received complaints that postal delivery was taking too long.

One disgruntled reader wrote: “One of the most talked about topics at the Christmas parties this year was ‘where have all the Christmas cards gone?’

“A visit to the local post office this first week of January, enquiring about the lack of mail, resulted in a large bundle of Christmas cards being handed over! Many of them had been posted in Hamilton in the first week of December!”

Yesterday Postmaster General George Outerbridge said: “We acknowledge that due to the high mail volumes during the Christmas period and an extremely high volume of parcels some of the larger sub post offices experienced a backlog of mail which we are which we are still working on diligently to clear.”

The delay in mail delivery has also impacted businesses and a Cellular One representative said some customers have complained they have yet to receive printed out versions of their bills and had to call the company to find out when their December payments are due.

A Digicell employee echoed the complaint and said customers are complaining they are not receiving their bill until a month after the payment was due.

Another complaint was that mail from overseas, particularly the UK, was still trickling in.

One man complained of receiving a Christmas card six weeks after his brother got one, the cards were posted from the UK on the same day from a relative.

Another reader said he was still waiting for three letters his mother posted to him before the Christmas holiday.

Mr. Outerbridge said the Bermuda Post Office performed a review yesterday of UK airmail received at the Bermuda Mail Processing Centre. He said: “Our research indicates that most of the mail in our system is dated mid-January, 2007.”

He said some residents may be waiting on overseas post for a while, if it was sent by surface mail.

UK surface mail goes to the US and is then shipped to the Island, the process can take up to ten weeks. The last UK surface mail the Bermuda Post Office received was in November, 2006.

Mr. Outerbridge added: “We will continue to investigate all customer concerns to ensure that mail is consistently delivered within four working days.

“I apologise to all valued customers for delays in the mail and would like to thank all the staff of the Bermuda Post Office for their hard work over the Christmas period.”

Despite the delays in bills reaching customers across the island Chamber of Commerce spokesman Diane Gordon said she has not received complaints about the postal system over the past two months.