Delivery firms granted licences to compete with the Royal Mail have been given permission to increase their business in the event of industrial action by postal workers.
Industry regulator Postcomm has modified licences awarded to Hays Commercial Services and TNT.
It will allow them to carry out a wider range of activities for existing business customers if there is a strike.
ALLAN LEIGHTON, chairman of Consignia, is to announce a “radical shakeup” of the board structure of Britain’s post-office group. The move could eventually shave more than Pounds 50m a year from operational costs.
When completed, it will result in several senior managers being made redundant and will eliminate inter- company billing. Leighton wants to simplify the reporting structures and cut the 18 operating divisions.
The group will have two operating subsidiaries, Royal Mail and Post Office Limited. These will be run by separate chief executives and will report to an umbrella company, Royal Mail Holdings.
The Royal Mail yesterday staged an embarrassing climbdown over its plan to charge small businesses and householders £14 a week for early delivery of their post after its chairman said he had not been told about the scheme. Allan Leighton, chairman of Consignia, which is to revert to its Royal Mail name by the end of the year, said the postal service would now widen pilot projects to see if it could economically deliver small volumes of mail before 9am at £5 and £10, as well as £14, a week. The charges would have hit relatively small users of the mail. Anyone receiving an average of more than 20 letters a day would not be charged.
Read MorePostwatch has attacked Royal Mail over its controversial plan for a new pricing system, branding it both complicated and unnecessary.
The post industry watchdog voiced its disapproval of the new system, which will take into account the size of an item as well as its weight, following consultation with a range of postal users.
Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, says: “This is the wrong route. Royal Mail should be buying machinery that processes the larger items that customers wish to send.
The Post Office has announced that it plans to charge £14 per week for customers who wish to receive their mail before 9.00 am, according to a report on the BBC 6.00 pm news. The Post Office will be carrying out a pilot scheme of the new charges for deliveries in certain areas from next week, it said.
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