Royal Mail chief executive warns of threat from unregulated firms

UNREGULATED competitors to the Royal Mail are putting the company at risk of plummeting into a “spiral of decline”, its chief executive has warned.

Moya Greene said the impact of other companies which deliver post in competition with the state-owned firm could have serious implications.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Communication Workers Union, she said there was a risk to the six-day-a-week, one-price-goes-anywhere universal service - and warned that warning that competition for so-called end-to-end deliveries is an “immediate threat”.

“I am fearful that competition, if it does not have conditions imposed, will soon begin a spiral of decline in Royal Mail that will be very difficult to staunch.”

She warned the union that Royal Mail faced “hard years” ahead, highlighting fears that if firms were able to compete in the more profitable parts of the business, other parts would become more expensive to service.