Delivery firms can step up business during post strikes

Delivery firms granted licences to compete with the Royal Mail have been given permission to increase their business in the event of industrial action by postal workers.

Industry regulator Postcomm has modified licences awarded to Hays Commercial Services and TNT.

It will allow them to carry out a wider range of activities for existing business customers if there is a strike.

Postcomm has also started consulting on whether to issue a short-term licence to TPG Post UK, a subsidiary of Dutch postal operator TPG, to compete with the Royal Mail.

TPG Post UK, which already employs 18,000 workers in this country in mail, logistics and express operations, has applied to collect and deliver mail from businesses to households.

If granted, the licence would limit the number of items to be carried to 20 million a year – a quarter of the 80 million items the Royal Mail handles every day.

Earlier this week, Postcomm confirmed it had issued a licence to Express Dairies to deliver packets and letters from businesses to households through its milk delivery network.

Speedmail International has also been given a licence to pilot a service collecting mail from Consignia and delivering it to clients’ premises.