All in a day’s work

Not even a total blackout could stop colleagues in Braintree from showing what they’re made of.

Following a fault in the national grid last month, Braintree delivery office suffered a power cut to several parts of the building.

‘Only a few of the lights on the main floor were still working,’ said delivery office manager Rhod Taylor. ‘Worst of all was the fact that no-one could get a coffee in the morning as all the coffee machines were out of action!

‘When we were told that the fault wouldn’t be fixed until around 6pm that day, the team powered on and covered all their duties without a second thought, while taking extra care to ensure everyone was able to work safely.

‘The next day when we arrived for work the office was completely blacked out save for the emergency lighting, which was minimal at best. Without even being asked to, the team co-ordinated the sorting of premium products, such as Special Delivery and Tracked, and worked with the managers to set up a full sorting system for packets in the yard, which we closed to keep them safe.

‘Not only did they clear all of the Special Deliveries, Tracked, and large packets, they also took out all of the sequenced mail that had arrived from the mail centre. The power partially came back on at 10am, and after everyone was back by 11, they got stuck into prepping ready for the next day to give us the best possible advantage. Some even stayed to prep and take out their full walk.’

Rhod said the team were phenomenal in ensuring that as much was delivered as possible. ‘Everyone went well beyond their call of duty that day,’ he said. ‘The managers and staff were a cohesive team and the only thing they cared about was doing right by the customer.

‘I’m sincerely proud of my team. This was the first time anything like this had happened in this office and they just snapped it up in their stride.’