UK Royal Mail chief executive admits mistakes

Adam Crozier, the Royal Mail chief executive, yesterday insisted that management attempts to shake up the Post Office had not “destroyed” it but admitted they had led to some difficulties.

The former Football Association boss was forced to defend the organisation as it came under fire from MPs of all parties at a Commons trade and industry select committee meeting.

Mr Crozier admitted being shaken by a recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme highlighting criminality and other failings inside the Post Office but said a range of initiatives had been introduced to deal with this.

Three big “change programmes” implemented at the same time had put the Royal Mail under stress. Failed letter delivery targets came along with a return to profit and other successes, he said.

Lindsay Hoyle, Labour MP for Chorley, said service levels had deteriorated even where one delivery a day was being made instead of two.

“We should not jump to the conclusion that we have destroyed the Post Office. That is not the case,” said Mr Crozier, who left the FA after a row over sponsorship deals and complaints about his allegedly autocratic style.

The Royal Mail was three-quarters of the way through the major changes to deliveries and transport it was introducing and he hoped everything would be finalised within two to three months.

“We will have got some things wrong and we now have action plans in place. The end result will be a more efficient postal service,” he said.

He was backed up by his chairman, Allan Leighton, who asked people to remember that the Royal Mail had been “losing billions” and was streamlining itself to compete with commercial rivals.

If the state-owned organisation was not ready it would be “eaten up” by the competition, such as the Dutch postal group TPG.

The management prosecuted 300 workers last year and is now considering criminal checks on all staff as part of a “zero tolerance” approach to theft and other crime.

Mr Crozier said the Dispatches programme had not adequately portrayed the vast majority of postal workers but he admitted lessons had been learned, including ones on security and recruitment, vetting and training of casual staff.