Post Office home deliveries 'at risk'
A DOOMSDAY scenario for the ailing postal service that could lead to the end of door-to-door deliveries has been mapped out by postal bosses.
Executives at Consignia, the new name for the Post Office, warned “extremely drastic measures” will have to be taken unless the Government gives them more freedom to invest in their future.
And they say it may become impossible to maintain the same prices nationwide, as they are required to do by law.
The Industry regulator PostComm says that if Consignia is unable to carry out the necessary functions other companies will be invited to take over.
That could trigger the complete fragmentation of the nationallyowned Royal Mail system.
Dr Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrats trade and industry spokesman, says that in secret talks with Consignia bosses he was told “everything is on the table” if the company’s finances fail to improve.
The news comes after chief executive John Roberts sparked fears of strikes and meltdown last week by saying 30,000 jobs might be axed because of huge losses this year.
That figure was later downgraded but Dr Cable said: “When you talk seriously to their senior executives they realise they are in a dire position.” He added: “There is now a serious threat to basic services such as house-to-house delivery, the uniform tariff across the UK and the network of sub-post offices.”
Blaming Labour for allowing the Treasury to take huge dividends from Consignia even when it is not making money and for restricting the amount it can borrow, Dr Cable compared the chaos with that facing Railtrack.
He said: “The Post Office is currently in no man’s land. It is neither a commercial operation nor a public service.”
Consignia dismissed Dr Cable’s claims. John Roberts called them “absolute rubbish”.
He added: “We’re going to carry on delivering to people’s doors.”
But Gary Hepburn, from consumers’ champion PostWatch, said the universal service is already failing. “We continually get complaints that no post has been delivered for days, ” he said.
Towns like Bognor Regis, Fareham, Reading, Wokingham, Bath, Swindon, Slough and Northampton have all had problems in recent months.
A spokesman for PostComm said: “Consignia has to provide a universal service of one collection and one delivery in a day throughout the UK. If they can’t do it then somebody else can come along.”
Tony Blair last week denied the Government had been consulted about the job losses and said three times that Consignia’s problems were a matter for the company and the unions, not Downing Street.
But there is growing evidence that the Government is still intimately involved in the company’s commercial decisions. In a letter seen by the Sunday Express the Communication Workers Union has written to complain to Consignia that the Department of Trade and Industry was involved in discussions in July about the future of the loss-making Parcelforce unit weeks before the union was informed of the plans.
A CWU spokesman said: “The Government owns Consignia. How the owners of a company can sit by and say, ‘We’re completely remote from thousands of jobs going’ beggars belief.” He accused private firms, who can apply for a licence to compete with Consignia in niche areas, for “cherry picking” the best parts of the postal network. He said: “The service is a natural monopoly. It should have stayed that way.” EDITION: 1ST PAGE: 2 SECTION: NEWS
Express on Sunday
