Medical cannabis patients have reported Royal Mail Special Delivery parcels arriving hours after the advertised deadline, tracking systems recording attempts that patients say never happened, redirection instructions being ignored and prescriptions being sent to the wrong delivery office.
My two most recent medical cannabis deliveries arrived at 1:30pm and 8:55am, in that order.
After the first parcel arrived half an hour after the 1pm deadline, I prepared for the next one to be late as well. It arrived at 8:55am, four hours and 35 minutes earlier than the previous delivery.
Royal Mail doesn’t publish a 9am starting time for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm. The company says that letters and small parcels are usually delivered between 7am and 4:30pm, while the Special Delivery service promises delivery by 1pm on the guaranteed date, subject to its published exceptions.
An 8:55am delivery therefore falls within Royal Mail’s normal operating hours. It was still a sharp change from the immediately preceding delivery at 1:30pm. A patient using the last delivery as a rough guide could easily be asleep, walking the dog, in the shower or away from the door when the next prescription arrived.
Royal Mail advertises Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm with full tracking, a photograph and a signature on delivery. It says that eligible items will arrive by 1pm the following day or the sender can claim the postage cost back. Royal Mail’s current service description can be read here.
Delivery frequency varies between patients
Medical cannabis prescriptions don’t all follow the same pattern. One patient might receive 40g once a month. Another might receive 10g every week. The number of days spent waiting for Royal Mail therefore depends heavily on the patient’s prescription and ordering arrangements.
A monthly delivery can consume one morning. Weekly deliveries can require the patient to remain available four or five times during the same month.
Ordering the medication can already involve prescription approval, pharmacy processing, payment and stock availability. We previously examined some of those complications in Why Medical Cannabis Repeat Orders Can Be So Confusing for Patients.
The supply chain itself has also caused avoidable delays. In July 2025, The Reasonable Adjustment reported on a prescription travelling from Sunderland to a pharmacy in London before the medication was dispatched back to Tyneside.
The Reddit posts below are individual public accounts. They haven’t been independently verified and don’t establish Royal Mail’s national failure rate. The original links and posting dates are included so readers can inspect the threads, updates and comments themselves.
Parcels arriving after 1pm
“Guaranteed 1pm delivery”
Posted 7 July 2026
A patient in Swansea said their Royal Mail prescriptions had regularly arrived at around 4pm or 5pm during more than two years with Integro. The patient said they used medical cannabis for anxiety and were waiting while unmedicated.
Other patients in the comments reported changes to their usual delivery times and said performance appeared to depend on the local depot and where the address fell on that day’s route.
“Royal Mail 1pm Delivery”
Posted 24 February 2026
The original poster had waited throughout the morning before Royal Mail’s chatbot reportedly told them that delivery times weren’t guaranteed.
One commenter said they’d received eight Montu parcels through the 1pm service and none had arrived before 1pm. Another reported a Special Delivery parcel arriving 24 hours late. The original poster later collected their medication directly from the local delivery office.
“Anyone else regularly have issues with Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed 1pm?”
Posted 31 May 2025
The patient said they frequently spent days chasing prescription deliveries after Royal Mail recorded the address as unidentifiable, despite having delivered there previously.
A commenter said their prescriptions had arrived as late as 5pm. They submitted a complaint through Royal Mail’s website and reported that later deliveries began arriving at around 10am or 11am.
“What’s the latest after 1pm your Royal Mail MC parcel has arrived?”
Posted 20 November 2024
The original poster said their previous prescription had arrived at 2:30pm and asked other patients how late their parcels had been delivered.
Replies included deliveries during the middle of the afternoon and as late as around 7:30pm. One patient said their normal arrival time changed from between 11am and 1pm to closer to 3pm after their postie changed. Others said Special Delivery was carried by their ordinary postman and arrived according to the position of their address on the normal round.
“It’s almost 3pm and I have no special delivery”
Posted 4 June 2025
The patient was used to receiving their medication before 1pm. At almost 3pm, tracking showed that it had reached their town, but they couldn’t tell whether it would arrive that afternoon or the following day.
Commenters described prescriptions arriving at 4pm, shortly after 5pm and, in one case, at around 7:30am. The range extended across most of the working day.
“Waiting”
Posted 21 January 2026
The patient said they’d been sitting near the door waiting for their prescription. A later update said the previous month’s parcel had arrived at around 2pm.
Another commenter said their prescriptions were never delivered before 1pm and usually arrived at around 4pm or 5pm.
No estimated delivery time
“Delivery”
Posted 25 March 2025
A patient who described themselves as 70 per cent deaf asked whether Royal Mail could provide an estimated arrival time or the number of stops remaining.
They’d added delivery instructions asking for a longer and louder knock, but still had to check the window every few minutes. They described spending around three hours on edge during each delivery day and said their arrival times varied between 10am and 1pm.
Several commenters recommended redirecting prescriptions to a Post Office and collecting them after receiving confirmation.
“First time experiencing poor delivery from Royal Mail”
Posted 24 January 2026
The patient said they repeatedly refreshed the tracking page because the uncertainty caused task paralysis.
The status continued to say that the parcel was due that day before changing to claim that the patient had been out. They then had to alter their plans for the following Monday.
“Royal Mail never delivered medication, what now?”
Posted 16 April 2025
The tracking showed that the prescription had reached the patient’s local delivery office. The patient remained home throughout the morning, but no delivery took place and the tracking stopped updating.
They said their doorbell camera showed that no attempt had been made. They were approaching the Easter weekend and were concerned about being left without their first prescription.
Patients told they weren’t at home
“Waited all day for my Xmas meds for Royal Mail to say I wasn’t in”
Posted 20 December 2025
The patient said they’d spent the day at home waiting for their Christmas medication before Royal Mail recorded that nobody was in.
The thread’s comments discussed a failed-attempt scan appearing shortly after the 1pm deadline and the prospect of the patient waiting until Monday.
“Royal Mail”
Posted 19 June 2025
The original post asked whether other patients had received Special Delivery parcels after 1pm.
One patient in the comments said their tracking changed to “delivery attempted” at 12:43pm while they were at home. They contacted Royal Mail and said they had doorbell footage showing that nobody had knocked. The parcel was reportedly delivered around 40 minutes later.
“Royal Mail”
Posted 22 May 2026
The patient said Royal Mail repeatedly claimed that delivery had been attempted while they sat watching the window. Nobody arrived at the time of the claimed attempt, but the prescription was delivered later.
A commenter reported a similar experience in which an attempted-delivery scan appeared before the parcel arrived at around 3pm.
“Royal Mail”
Posted 26 March 2026
The patient said Royal Mail was supposedly making a third attempt after recording no answer on the previous two days.
They said they’d been home throughout and no attempts had been made. They selected collection from the delivery office, received confirmation, and then saw the tracking switch back to another home delivery. The prescription was eventually delivered.
“Royal Mail lies”
Posted 2 May 2026
The patient said they were sitting outside their building with the door open when they received an attempted-delivery notification.
Other patients described waiting all day before receiving similar messages. Several said they’d started redirecting every prescription to a Post Office or sorting office.
“Royal Mail lying again”
Posted 23 May 2024
The patient said CCTV showed that nobody had visited before Royal Mail recorded a failed delivery attempt.
Commenters reported similar experiences involving doorbell cameras and cards being placed through doors without a meaningful attempt to hand over the parcel.
“Advice on Royal Mail MC delivery”
Posted 31 July 2024
The patient had been working near the door since 9am. Royal Mail recorded a delivery attempt at 1pm, but the patient said they’d heard nothing and hadn’t seen a Royal Mail vehicle.
They redirected the parcel to a Post Office because they were concerned about another claimed attempt and the prescription being returned. The parcel then arrived at their home later that day despite the redirection.
Redirection instructions being ignored
“Royal Mail”
Posted 23 July 2025
The patient arranged a redelivery of their medication. Royal Mail attempted to deliver it again instead, after which the patient could no longer reroute the parcel.
Other patients in the thread reported confirmed Post Office redirections being ignored. One said a postman checked his handheld terminal and found no redirection instruction, despite the recipient having received confirmation.
Redirecting medication can give patients control over when they collect it, but only when the instruction reaches the delivery worker and the chosen collection point actually receives the parcel.
Prescriptions sent elsewhere
“Royal Mail sent my meds to the wrong place”
Posted 21 July 2026
The tracking showed that the prescription had reached the patient’s local delivery office and was then sent away again.
The patient couldn’t tell whether it would still be delivered that day or whether they were wasting their time waiting. Commenters said the parcel would probably need to be routed back to the correct office before another delivery attempt could take place.
“Montu and Royal Mail”
Posted 18 July 2026
A patient expecting a Saturday prescription received a tracking update indicating that the item was being returned.
Montu was closed for the weekend, leaving the patient unable to obtain an immediate explanation from the pharmacy. Comments discussed damaged address labels, items being returned after a route ran out of time and similar tracking messages appearing before parcels later arrived.
A prescription held and partly opened
“Just had my meds seized by Royal Mail”
Posted 22 October 2025
The patient didn’t receive their usual morning delivery notification. Tracking said Royal Mail had tried to deliver, so they went to the sorting office.
A postal worker located the prescription, which the patient said had been partly opened far enough to expose the pharmacy’s paper bag. A manager asked what the parcel contained. The patient explained that it was medical cannabis and showed an earlier prescription bearing the clinic and prescriber’s details.
The parcel was released after the patient signed for it. The patient said this was their first Royal Mail problem during three years of treatment.
The thread attracted more than 100 comments, including another account of medical cannabis being held while staff sought confirmation of its legality.
Medical cannabis has been available on prescription in the UK since November 2018. Patients still regularly encounter organisations and staff who don’t recognise the legal framework. Our guide, Medical Cannabis in the UK: What It Actually Takes, explains how treatment, prescribing and private pharmacy supply currently work.
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