Consignia denies cutting daily deliveries

Consignia today rejected claims it was planning to cut daily postal deliveries to a further 2,000 Scottish households.

Postal watchdogs had claimed Consignia was looking to increase the number of Scottish households on an “exemption list” from 43 to 2,248.

But Consignia today insisted a list of exceptions it had passed to Postwatch Scotland for a survey was neither new nor intended to be used as a mailing list.

It said there were already 2,248 addresses in Scotland currently exempt under the universal postal service obligation, which dates back to 1840.

The obligation requires the company to deliver mail six days a week to 2.5 million addresses in Scotland.

Consignia stressed it had no plans to increase the number of exceptions.

A spokeswoman said: “This is another example of Postwatch purposely and unnecessarily alarming our customers rather than addressing their legitimate concerns.

“The survey does not demonstrate a high level of dissatisfaction with current delivery arrangements.

“While Consignia is following up each case, such complaints are not relevant to the debate about exceptions.”

Postwatch Scotland said exemptions should only be made in “exceptional” cases and criticised Consignia’s database, which contains details of addresses and reasons why they should be exempted, for being littered with inaccuracies.

The watchdog body carried out a survey of all Scottish addresses contained on Consignia’s list and received responses from just under half.

Examples included a house listed as containing a “dangerous dog” which died four years ago and a home which was marked “inaccessible” even though the householder said the road leading to it was regularly used by vehicles.

Postwatch Scotland chairman, Dr Tom Begg, said: “We need to make sure that any definition the regulator comes up with represents the consumer’s needs properly.

“Exceptions should only be permitted in really exceptional cases.”

A spokesman for postal communications regulator Postcomm said: “These exemptions are written into Consignia’s contract, but in many cases, it has grown up over the years through local agreements.

“In some cases, people don’t want the postman tramping around all the time because they live on an island nature reserve, for example.

“We are going out to consultation in a few weeks to see whether there is a case for rationalising the list.

“We are not in the business of granting more exceptions than are absolutely necessary.”