Mail service in rural areas

The Royal Mail has made significant strides in recent years, but faces many more testing times as it gears up for the challenge from private operators entering the postal market.

However the line has to be drawn somewhere in terms of levels of service, and the apparent idea that some rural customers will be deemed as too rural to receive deliveries is a step too far.

The Royal Mail is a lifeline service for those who live in the remotest parts of the country, and to abandon these customers because of where they live is unacceptable. One has to wonder who dreamed up a proposal which would see anyone living a 15-minute round trip off the beaten track jettisoned from the delivery round.

It is akin to the local police pulling the plug on rural crime or the power companies pulling down the electricity cables. Those who choose to live in remote areas understand it will restrict their access to services, but they should still get the basic package, and mail through the letterbox should be part of that.

The Government must ensure that the Royal Mail’s desire to make itself a lean organisation is not achieved at the expense of customers in the far-flung corners of Scotland.