Postcomm today began consultation on the proposed issue of new long term
standard licences to three companies: Hays Commercial Services Limited, TNT
UK Limited and TPG Post UK Limited. They are the first applicants for standard
licences which mark the start of wider competition in postal services.
Business Post Half Year Results
Read MoreRoyal Mail trains which carry overnight sorting offices to Glasgow are to be scrapped next year. The cost-cutting move will bring to an end to more than 130 years of history and affect almost 80 staff who work on the travelling post offices (TPOs). Staff who man the 132-year-old mail train service fear they will lose their jobs as a result. And they are also concerned that the move will mean a reduced service for customers.
Read MoreRoyal Mail Group faces the biggest competitive challenge in its more than 300-year history when the postal regulator releases plans for new seven-year licences for private firms as early as tomorrow.
The state-owned Royal Mail, which is losing pounds 1.2m a day, argued vociferously against the proposals in favour of a slower pace of market liberalisation.
But Postcomm, already embroiled in a fierce battle with the group over price controls, has ignored its advice and will push ahead by announcing terms and conditions for the new long-term licences to be introduced from January in place of the current 12 month permits.
Read MoreRoyal Mail’s attempt to sell its cash handling business to the private sector hit an obstacle yesterday after the Department of Trade and Industry decided to refer the move to the Competition Commission.
The move is potentially embarrassing for Alan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, who has been involved in a bitter battle with the Communication Workers’ Union over the outsourcing of services.
The CWU has opposed the sale, fearing for the jobs of the 3,000 workers who are set to be transferred if the sale to Securicor, the business services company, goes ahead. It also argues that the sale would give Securicor a virtual monopoly over cash handling and distribution.
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