UK Royal Mail chief takes control of delivery

Adam Crozier, chief executive of Royal Mail, has assumed direct control of postal deliveries after revelations of theft by staff and complaints about missing and late mail.

In a statement yesterday, Royal Mail said Mr Crozier had also appointed a new operations director, Tom Melvin, who was previously head of operations for the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It added: “The management of letters and transport operations has been brought together to improve co-ordination.

“Adam brought together the 1,500 operational managers yesterday to reaffirm the commitment to quality and share action plans, to be implemented over the next two to three months.”

Last week, Royal Mail launched disciplinary investigations against a number of postal workers following a Channel 4 programme that claimed to show evidence of theft in the organisation.

Prior to that, Mr Crozier had brandished newspaper adverts for the programme “a disgrace”, and complained he had not been given the opportunity to view the programme before it was aired. He said the Channel 4 investigation took place “during one of the worst strike periods the company has ever encountered.” He added that the advertisements were “entirely misleading”.

To compound his misery, it was also revealed last week that Royal Mail will miss targets it has been set for delivering first class letters when official figures for 2003 are published later this month.

The figures are expected to show that only 90pc of first class post was delivered the following day, missing the target of 92.5pc. Post Office managers have blamed last summer’s strike.

Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, apologised to the Commons on Thursday for chaos caused by the three-year restructuring of the Post Office. The Government has rejected demands by unions to halt the changes, which they blame for missing mail and late deliveries. The Post Office, which has the largest public sector staff after the NHS with about 200,000 employees, is profitable again after reporting losses of more than pounds 1.8billion over two years, and has reached a deal with unions to reform working practices.

Postwatch, the consumer mail watchdog, said it welcomed Mr Crozier assuming personal responsibility for resolving the problems at Royal Mail. “Adam must return pride to Royal Mail’s workforce and confidence to the customers,” said Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch.