The company has also added more countries to an ever-growing list of destinations to its ‘on suspension’ list due to ‘severely limited’ air capacity.

International deliveries

An update on the Royal Mail website announced the temporary suspension of some international services due to coronavirus transport chaos.

The statement said: “Royal Mail has temporarily suspended all mail services to Europe, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland.

“This is a fast-moving situation and we are monitoring things on an hourly basis. We are working to keep as many international mail services running as possible given the current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements from the UK.

“Items that are already in the system will be processed as normal and made ready for dispatch. These items will be held securely until we are able to get them to their relevant destinations.

“We’re closely monitoring the situation and are ready to open our services as soon as we are able to once the restrictions have been lifted. We continue to explore all options.”

Royal Mail said it was keeping the situation under close and constant review, and that customers should check its website for regular updates.

Limited air capacity means Royal Mail is also experiencing delays to a list of well over 100 countries currently ‘on suspension’. Canada and Turkey were added to the list yesterday.

Delivery guarantee suspended

Royal Mail has also suspended a service that guarantees deliveries in time for Christmas.

For its Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm services, the delivery guarantee will be suspended tomorrow (23 December).

Its website said: “While we cannot currently provide a guarantee that items posted on Wednesday 23 December will arrive prior to Christmas due to the impact of the new coronavirus restrictions, we can assure you that we will be endeavouring to deliver all items as quickly as possible. We know how important this is.”

Royal Mail’s Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm service for items posted up to and including today – Tuesday 22 December – remain unchanged.