Post Watchdog in row
FRUSTRATED Royal Mail watchdogs meet lawyers this week to see if they can sue Postcomm, the Government-appointed regulator.
Consumers’ champion Postwatch has found that in some areas of Southern England – including Bognor, Fareham, Bath, Wokingham and Reading – postmen deliver only once every three days. Customers must visit the local sorting office to collect urgent mail.
Five months ago, Postwatch investigators asked Royal Mail parent Consignia for details on how many deliveries a week it missed in each district. Consignia refused, and was backed by Postcomm, which said it was not legally obliged to co-operate.
Postwatch’s South and West region secretary Gary Hepburn said: “We’ll talk to our barristers to see if we can seek a judicial review of Postcomm’s decision. Its verdict means we can only request information when we know there is a problem. If we are to do our job properly we need to think ahead, not just react to complaints.”
Last week, Postcomm said in a 30-page decision that Postwatch was being unreasonable in seeking information for all 14 postal areas in the South and West instead of just the four areas where it had received complaints. But it recommended Consignia release the data anyway.
“They fudged the issue, ” said Hepburn. Consignia said it would hand Postwatch the information “as soon as practically possible”.
Express on Sunday
