Royal Mail misses all its targets
ROYAL MAIL failed to meet any of its delivery targets in the nine months from April to December last year. Postwatch, the consumers’ group, condemned the result, saying that 300 million first-class letters arrived late in this period.
Failure to reach all 13 service targets set by the postal regulator could mean fines for Consignia, the loss-making holding company which is to cut up to 30,000 postal jobs to save Pounds 1.2 billion.
The worst service was in London. In East London only 81.7 per cent of first-class letters were delivered by the following day compared with the national target of 92.1 per cent.
Other London regions fared poorly, with an 83.7 per cent rate in Uxbridge and 84.3 per cent for both west central and southwest London.
Overall, the delivery rate for first-class items was 89.3 per cent.
Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, said: “Despite the three-month no-strike agreement between the union and Consignia, the latest service results remain a long way from the end-of-year target of 92.1 per cent. This suggests that service failures are not only due to strikes.”
John Roberts, Consignia’s chief executive, said: “Royal Mail employees are making a huge effort to drive performance even higher, and in almost a third of the UK we are already beating our target.
“But in 40 per cent of the country, we are not even hitting 90 per cent and it is in these areas where everyone in the business must make renewed efforts.”
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(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2002
