Single post a `shambles' nationwide plan is put on hold

A postal experiment which cut deliveries to one a day in parts of Merseyside has been branded a shambles.

Royal Mail officials have put plans to introduce the scheme across the country on hold, after major problems with the pilot programme in St Helens.

Union representatives have been holding a series of meetings with Royal Mail management after what they describe as three months of “absolute chaos”.

Royal Mail had planned a national roll-out of the scheme last month but that has been shelved until next year.

Andy Sorton, the branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union in the North West, said: “The areas affected by the pilot are in shambles.

“We are currently working just to restore some sort of reasonable service to customers in the St Helens trial areas. It has been a disaster and delivery has been totally chaotic. Some people don’t get their post until 3pm.”

According to the CWU, phone lines to St Helens sorting offices have been swamped with complaints from residents. Yet the scheme was designed to save around pounds 350m a year and return troubled Royal Mail to profitability.

A CWU spokesman said: “The schemes have not saved Royal Mail money. In some of the 13 trial areas wage bills have actually gone up to pay for overtime and casual workers to mop up the problems raised by the trial. In one area, it added pounds 100,000 to the wage bill.”

A spokesman for consumer watchdog Postwatch said: “A quarter of people affected by the pilots reported problems.”

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “Single post delivery is about saving money and increasing efficiency.

“We have decided to postpone rolling out the scheme in the lead up to Christmas, when the volume of mail doubles.”

Chief executive of St Helens Chamber of Commerce Kath Boullen said: “Haphazard mail delivery could be detrimental to small businesses who rely on the Royal Mail to deliver payments and orders.”