MAIL WATCHDOG BITES.

Complaints about lost mail should be easier to pursue after the launch
yesterday of Postwatch, a watchdog for customers of Royal Mail and other
services.

Postwatch replaces the Consumer Council for Postal Services (CCPS), and
will help individuals to gain compensation as well as being able to fine Royal
Mail and impose higher standards.

The watchdog’s launch follows new figures showing years of deterioration in
postal services. Two million first-class letters per day fail to arrive
next day; 4,000 parcels miss the three-day target.

Postwatch is demanding better delivery standards and is also, for the first
time, insisting that Royal Mail measures mail lost altogether. The CCPS
previously claimed that as many as a million letters a week are lost.

Postwatch can help with all unresolved complaints involving Royal Mail,
Parcelforce or the Post Office. Call 08456 013265 or visit the website
www.postwatch.co.ukTh
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SECTION: MONEY
THE EXPRESS, 21st March 2001