UK Royal Mail attacks vote ‘opportunism’

Royal Mail yesterday described its watchdog as ‘scaremongering’ and ‘opportunistic’ after Postwatch complained that the organisation was not reinstating collection tabs on postboxes.
The tabs, which show when the next collection will be, were removed in 2002. Royal Mail has pledged to reinstate them, where practical, but Postwatch said yesterday it had not been done in many cases and that it may cause difficulties for postal voters in the upcoming election.
Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, 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 30pc of post boxes – some 40,000 – receive tabs is a decision to be made on the basis of cost, rather than customer need.”
A spokesman for Royal Mail said it had only promised to reinstate tabs where it was practical and that some postboxes would need to be replaced entirely before tabs were fitted. He also attacked Postwatch’s timing as “opportunistic”.
However, Mr Carr said: “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.”