Royal Mail breaks promise to customers on collection tabs

Postwatch, the consumer watchdog for postal services, today criticised Royal
Mail's failure keep its promise to customers to fully reintroduce collection
tabs to post boxes, and warned that this inaction may cause difficulties for
postal voters.

Following a Postwatch campaign, Royal Mail agreed to reintroduce collection
tabs in late 2004. Collection tabs are important to customers as they
indicate that the daily final collection from the post box has been made.
Despite Royal Mail's promise to customers to fully reintroduce the tabs, a
Postwatch survey of 2,600 post boxes conducted in January 2005 found that
only 1 in every 3 post boxes had their collection tabs replaced.

Since the survey, Postwatch has pressed Royal Mail for action. Adam Crozier,
Royal Mail's Chief Executive, subsequently gave Postwatch a personal
assurance that collection tabs would be reinstated. Now, in a letter to
Postwatch, Royal Mail has stated that 70 percent of collection tabs have
been replaced, and whether the remaining 30 percent will be reintroduced
will be 'subject to available finances'.

Commenting on the issue, Postwatch Chairman Peter Carr said:

"Royal Mail promised its customers that it would fully reintroduce
collection tabs. It has broken that promise.

"Despite the commitment by Royal Mail's Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, that
the full reinstatement would go ahead, regardless of cost, it now seems that
whether the remaining 30 per cent of post boxes – some 40,000 – receive tabs
is a decision to be made on the basis of cost, rather than customer need.

"In the run up to the General Election, postal voters need to know whether
the last collection from a post box has gone. Knowing this may be the
difference between casting one's vote in time or not. A post box not
displaying a tab, or displaying an incorrect one, may lead to voters
mistakenly posting their vote, unaware that they have missed the last post.
That would be unacceptable and inequitable.

"Postwatch wants a collection tab on every post box. There's no adequate
long-term justification for some post boxes having them and others not. If
customers use a post box without a collection tab, we urge them to voice
their dissatisfaction by complaining to Royal Mail on 08457 740 740."

Further Information

Please contact:

Robert Forsyth 020 7259 1364 07900 263014
Sharolyn Lovelle 020 7259 1222

Notes to Editors

1. Royal Mail removed collection tabs in 2002, prompting Postwatch,
Postcomm, the postal regulator, and other organisations such as Age Concern,
to campaign for their reinstatement.

2. Collection tabs inform customers when a final collection has been made
from a post box. For example, after the final collection on a Monday, the
post box should display a tab stating 'Tues', to inform customers that the
next delivery will be made on the following day.

3. Royal Mail committed to reinstating collection tabs to all post boxes
with standard tabs holders.

4. Postwatch's survey was carried out between 21st and 31st January 2005
February. Postwatch staff and Committee members throughout the UK visited
2,600 post boxes. The findings were:

· 1,711 post boxes had no collection tab (66 per cent)
· 886 post boxes had a collection tab (34 per cent)
· Of the 886 post boxes displaying a collection tab, 140 (16 per cent)
displayed an incorrect tab

5. For more information on Postwatch and collection tabs visit
www.postwatch.co.uk

6. If customers are unhappy with any response recently from Royal Mail's
customer services they can contact Postwatch on 08456 013265.