Royal Mail to avoid millions in compensation to strike-hit customers

The Royal Mail will avoid paying millions of pounds in compensation to customers hit by the worst strike in the UK in two years, says The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper reports:

Consumers are entitled to be given a book of six first class stamps, worth £2.34, as compensation if their letter is lost or delayed by three days or more. People that suffer from lost post are entitled to compensation worth as much as 100 first class stamps.

However, consumer groups said Royal Mail made it very difficult to claim compensation and that millions of inconvenienced customers would end up receiving nothing, despite the service admitting to millions of letters already delayed.

On top of this, Royal Mail has been given special dispensation from the postal regulator to avoid paying any large business compensation. During the last strike all compensation to bulk mailers, such as catalogue retailers and websites that sent out regular parcels, was suspended and it is likely this will be repeated.

To receive compensation consumers need to prove their letter is delayed or lost. The most common type of proof is a certificate of posting, a form that can be picked up from a post office. Senders of letters need to fill in this form – which states to where the letter is being sent – at the same time as posting the letter and have the form stamped by someone behind the counter.

Nigel Woods, of the postal watchdog Consumer Focus, said: “Anyone posting anything of monetary value should do so using special delivery. It will cost more than normal postage, but a level of insurance is built into the price.

“A proof of posting certificate will be required for compensation for lost, damaged or delayed items. The proof will only take a few seconds to produce, but you have to persevere with the queues at your local Post Office to get it.”

He also pointed out that many people lived far away from their local post office.

During the last national strike in 2007 £2.6m worth of stamps were given out, a fraction of the value of all of the lost and delayed letters. During this strike “over a hundred million” letters became snarled up in the system, according to the Royal Mail itself.

The Communication and Workers Union (CWU) has started balloting 121,000 Royal Mail workers about a proposed national strike that would start next month. However, research by the Daily Telegraph has discovered that a series of rolling, local strikes has crippled a significant part of the network already, with one in eight letters delayed.

The Royal Mail insisted that its compensation scheme was fair. A spokesman said: “We understand that not everyone will have proof of posting. We look into each case on an individual basis.”