Royal Mail’s international parcel service has ground to a halt following a “cyber incident”, the postal service said on Wednesday, the second such issue it has suffered in recent months.
Royal Mail warned customers of “severe disruption” as it told them to temporarily hold items they were planning to send abroad, warning that it was unable to dispatch packages and that those already in transit may be delayed.
The problems come two months after the group temporarily suspended its “click and drop” website because of a leak that allowed customers on the postage payment platform to see other users’ orders.
Royal Mail said in a statement on its website that security authorities and regulators had been notified of the incident. It did not give further detail about the nature of the problem, adding that it had called in external experts and was “working round the clock to resolve this disruption”.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to impacted customers,” the company said.
The incident comes as the formerly state-owned British postal service is locked in a dispute with postal staff over modernisation plans and pay, with 18 strike days over the last five months contributing to widespread industrial disputes across the UK. The group, which is steadily losing market share to more nimble rivals, wants to make changes including greater digitisation and automation.
Hours before the incident was announced, the Communication Workers’ Union, which represents about 115,000 postal workers, confirmed plans for a fresh ballot on strike action, with results to be declared 16 February.