Tag: Post Office Ltd

A Postmasters’ group is attempting to mount a management buyout of the main postal network in a move that would split the Royal Mail group, The Times has learnt. The Postmasternetwork, which claims 7,500 members, this week will meet potential American investors to try to secure up to GBP150 million of funding to buy the 14,500-strong chain of loss- making sub-post offices. The group has held meetings with the Department of Trade and Industry already to press the idea. The organisation has emphasised its interest in running the network, although it would need government support for about two years, as the future of the UK’s postal service is being reviewed.

Thousands of post offices face the axe because of red tape that subpostmasters say will ruin their businesses. They believe that the Post Office’s archaic curbs on how they work are stifling opportunities to thrive. But their efforts to overturn what they see as unfair terms in their contracts with the Post Office have been rebuffed. The Association of Convenience Stores, which has 10,000 post office members, lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading last December over the contracts between the Post Office and subpostmasters. The association, backed by the Postmasternetwork website, claims that the contract is anti-competitive because it prevents sub-postmasters who run their own businesses from operating on equal terms with other retail outlets. But after a ten-month review, the OFT says it is closing its file unless the association can supply new evidence within the next few weeks.