Royal Mail will stamp out lost post

The moves have been proposed to cut the number of letters that go astray each year.

The Royal Mail is drawing up an action plan in the wake of revelations that nationally 500,000 letters are lost each week. Regional statistics are not available.

The figures were released in Royal Mail’s report to consumer watchdog Postwatch.

Royal Mail spokesman Dan Panes said: “We’re committed to improving significantly to ensure customers get the best service possible.

“Every letter is very important to us but there’s always going to be a certain amount lost.

“You’re never going to get rid of the problem completely because human error means they’ll go to 24a instead of 24b.”

He said of the 500,000 lost letters, 100,000 are due to “exterior influences” such as theft for which staff cannot be held responsible.

The figure also includes poorly addressed letters and ones that are “substantially delayed”.

These arrive five days late. A first class item should be delivered the next day and a second class one, within three days.

Mr Panes said: “We are aware we’ve got to do something about it but it has to be kept in perspective.

“This is 0.1 per cent of the letters we deliver. It’s not a huge amount.”

Each day Royal Mail delivers 82 million letters and 25,000 parcels. Fifteen million letters a week reach their destination despite being badly addressed.

Those which cannot be delivered are sent to the National Return Letter Centre, in Belfast, which returns a quarter of them within 14 days.

There are 1,500 delivery staff in the Gloucester postcode area. Each undergoes three days training at the mail centre in Bristol before being assigned a delivery office.

Details of the proposals to develop new training and equipment have yet to be released.