Scots jobs go as mail trains axed; Depot staff and drivers hit by £90M cuts

Dozens of Scots jobs will be axed when the Royal Mail stops transporting post by train.

The firm was today condemned for its “scandalous” decision to carry post by road and air from April 2004.

Postal chiefs want to slash costs across the business by (pounds) 1.4billion a year, and stopping train transportation would save (pounds) 90m.

The group said mail trains would be phased out from next month and stopped altogether next spring.

English Welsh & Scottish Railways carries mail on 49 daily trains, five of which are in Scotland, and the axeing of the service would mean 50 jobs lost in Scotland.

Train drivers and other staff who work in Royal Mail’s Shieldmuir rail depot, near Wishaw, Lanarkshire, are expected to be hit by the job cuts.

The giant Rail Maritime and Transport union slammed Royal Mail, saying the cuts would threaten 500 jobs across the UK.

Around 14% of Britain’s daily postbag of 82 million items is transported by rail – more than 10 million items.

Royal Mail said it had “no alternative” but to move forward with a restructure based on a road and air network only.

Paul Bateson, Royal Mail managing director logistics, said: “Quite simply, other forms of transport can give us the same benefits, in terms of flexibility and quality, but at a lower cost.”

Tenders from a number of air operators are being considered and a new air network will begin in October.

EWS condemned the announcement and warned it would add 160,000 lorry journeys a year to Britain’s “beleaguered” roads.

Allen Johnson, chief operating officer of EWS, said: “We are shocked that Royal Mail is threatening to walk away from the railway.

“EWS has made numerous competitive price offers in response to changing specifications from Royal Mail.”

Mr Johnson agreed with the RMT union that 500 UK jobs were at risk.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said Royal Mail’s decision was a “scandal”.

He added: “This move threatens 500 jobs, it threatens the environment, it threatens the whole idea of next-day postal deliveries and it threatens to cost the taxpayer a fortune.

“This is a cost-cutting step too far and if the Government has any self-respect left it will step in to stop it.

“The Government cannot stand by and watch Royal Mail put hundreds of thousands more lorries on already congested roads.

“We will be consulting urgently with other unions and will consider what actions we can take to stop this extremely damaging move.”

Mail trains have been running since 1830, and one was robbed of (pounds) 2.5m in the 1963 Great Train Robbery.