Rural residents overcharged for deliveries

AN INVESTIGATION into excessive delivery charges slapped on parcels sent to rural areas of Scotland has already sparked more than 800 responses from angry residents.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has launched the probe into the practice, which can see households in the more remote areas of the country charged as much as £80 for deliveries that ought to cost around £10 or £20.

Many companies claim to offer “free delivery to UK addresses”, but then charge people in rural and island Scotland. Other companies simply refuse to deliver to these areas at all.

CAS is now looking for anyone else who would like to put their views forward before the survey closes at midnight on Wednesday.

“We knew this was a real concern to people across rural and island Scotland, so when we started this survey we expected to get a significant response,” said Angela Murphy from Skye & Lochalsh Citizens Advice Bureau. “But frankly we’ve been really taken aback by the scale of it. The survey is restricted to people in rural areas, so to get this many in just a few weeks is a real sign of the strength of feeling.”

She added: “It’s not just the numbers, but the level of anger that people are showing in their responses. It seems that the problem is even bigger than we thought, and affects even more companies. Many companies refuse to deliver to rural Scotland at all. Others seem to be unaware that Royal Mail delivers to all post codes.”