'SECOND POST? IT NEVER EXISTED'
THE new boss of the Royal Mail has denied she is scrapping the second post – because, she says, it never existed in the first place.
Although three million letters drop through letterboxes each day after 2pm, former Avon lady Gillian Wilmot – in a public relations exercise worthy of a New Labour spin doctor – insisted that the second delivery was ‘a myth’.
She said: ‘What we have is a sweeper service that picks up mail we should have delivered first time round.
‘There is a myth about postal deliveries.
‘There was never a time when the Post Office delivered mail four or five times a day. I know – I have just read the history of the service since 1635.’ Ms Wilmot, 40, under fire for her reorganisation of the Royal Mail – part of Consignia – admitted the service was failing to meet deadlines.
‘I am not prepared to say our service is a shambles but, yes, we have missed deliveries,’ she said.
The Government has set Consignia, the new name for the Post Office, a target of delivering 92.1 per cent of mail the following morning.
Figures for September showed that just 85.6 per cent of first-class mail met the deadline, and this fell to as little as 75 per cent in some areas.
The Royal Mail is considering putting hundreds of thousands of private letterboxes at commuter stations and London Tube stations, enabling customers to pick post up on the way to work.
‘These days, most working people leave home before the post arrives, especially in rural areas,’ said Ms Wilmot.
She added: ‘If they want to pick up their mail on the way to the station or as they pass a local Post Office, we will arrange it.’
Mail on Sunday
