Royal Mail pays GBP 12 million in compensation (UK)
The company paid a total of more than GBP 12 million last year for customer complaints ranging from loss and delay or letters to rudeness from staff.
Customers made 1,439,245 complaints last year and in total 555,416 of them received compensation.
Campaigners said the figures suggested Adam Crozier, the company’s Chief Executive, was being paid for failure.
This year his salary was GBP 843,000 including a bonus and benefits. He also received nearly GBP 2 million from a long term incentive plan.
A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This is another lamentable failure at the Royal Mail.
“It is becoming harder and harder to see Adam Crozier’s bonus as anything but a reward for failure and an insult to hard-pressed families who foot the bill.
“We need to see improved Royal Mail standards so that these compensation bills can be brought down.”
Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Ninety per cent of small businesses rely on the Royal Mail. If goods are delivered in a poor state, or do not arrive at all this rebounds on the business.”
A spokesman for the company said: “The complaints equate to about one for every 15,000 letters and packets posted out of the 20 billion items Royal Mail handled last year.
“They covered a range of issues in a year when there was a prolonged period of industrial action, but quality of service has since improved with the large bulk of mail now being delivered at target levels or above.”
