Tag: UK

Axed mail trains to make comeback

Posted by | Oct 17, 2004 | |

Royal Mail is to bring back rail deliveries less than a year after it axed the service to save costs amid concerns that the busy Christmas period could be hit by poor performance. The U-turn will see the firm running four mail trains up and down the country daily, with the first services starting next month. If they increase efficiency and help restore public confidence in the struggling postal network, they may be brought back permanently. The company is expecting to handle about 2.1 billion letters and parcels in the four weeks before Christmas, but it fears bad weather could hamper distribution by road and air.
Transport problems may be compounded by a shortage of manpower. Royal Mail is recruiting 23,000 temporary staff but some postal workers, who feel their workload is too demanding, are threatening to withdraw overtime. The decision to scrap mail trains was taken last year following a transport review.

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Postwatch welcomes National Audit Office’s report

Posted by | Oct 15, 2004 | |

Postwatch, the consumer watchdog for postal services, welcomes the
publication today of the NAO’s report into its first three years of
operation. Postwatch accepts and will work to achieve the ten short and
medium term recommendations. Peter Carr, Chairman of Postwatch commenting on the report said: ” The NAO’s review of our operations was timely. The report has given us a clearer vision of the way in which we should develop Postwatch to the benefit of all customers and we enjoyed working with the NAO team.

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UK Royal Mail TMI plan sparks legal threat

Posted by | Oct 15, 2004 | |

Royal Mail is facing legal action following a dispute over the postal operator’s Tailor Made Incentives (TMIs) discount scheme. Pabo, which specialises in lingerie, magazines and videos, spends around GBP2.4m a year on Royal Mail’s services. But it is consulting its lawyers over a dispute that centres around a marketing venture that involved sending out a 16-page booklet to consumers featuring its best-selling items. The firm says it spent GBP75,000 on the mailing and, after discussions with Royal Mail to ensure it met the criteria for TMIs, expected to receive a discount of around GBP6,500. But it claims Royal Mail offered just GBP305. Pabo UK director David Billington says: “You get different information from different sectors of Royal Mail’s business. We understand that the maximum TMI anyone now receives is 5 per cent, but it is not a level playing-field.”

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UK Royal Mail complaints rise 300% as targets are missed

Posted by | Oct 15, 2004 | |

Complaints about lost, damaged and late post have rocketed by more than 300 per cent in two years and are likely to reach 40,000 by the end of the financial year, according to new figures from the independent postal service watchdog.
Postwatch, the organisation set up to monitor Royal Mail, handled 28,000 complaints last year, up from just 6,300 in 2002, and says complaints this year are already on course to reach 40,000 by April. Of the 28,000 complaints handled by the watchdog last year, only 88 were about companies other than Royal Mail. Officials said the failure of Royal Mail to hit any of its 15 performance targets was fuelling increases in complaints ranging from lost letters and parcels to problems with redirection. The number of complaints, contained in a National Audit Office report about the postal and energy watchdogs, will reignite anger about the standard of postal services after figures published this year suggested that 14.5 million letters are lost each year, with 60 per cent delivered to the wrong address.

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