Author: Archive

The Royal Mail is expected to miss its target for delivering post on time as complaints about the service continue to be made by customers.

The organisation has a target of delivering 92.5percent of first class letters a day after they were posted, but it is set to miss the figure by up to 4percent. Officials admitted today that the service had been experiencing problems, especially in London, because of changes to deliveries.

“It is not good enough, and improving it is our number one priority,” said a spokesman.

London postal chiefs have been forced to apologise to MPs for the “Third World” state of deliveries.

A furious confrontation has erupted behind closed doors between MPs and Royal Mail executives over late mail, lost post and service cutbacks that have caused chaos. Details of the row emerged as new figures reveal standards in the South-East have slumped badly, with fewer first-class letters being delivered on time – and many parts of London getting a slower service than remote Scottish islands.

In almost every part of the capital, letters and packages missed the target for 92.5 per cent to be safely delivered by the next day.

The Royal Mail apology came after a private Commons meeting between London Labour MPs and three senior executives – London area director Roger Baynes, external relations head Melanie Corfield and government relations head Mick Fisher.