Royal Mail failing to deliver as Capital faces wait for post

Published on Friday 30 May 2008 14:01

NEARLY a fifth of Edinburgh and the Lothians' first class mail was not delivered on time last year, new figures have revealed today.

Just 83.2 per cent of first class post was delivered the next working day in the EH postcode area during 2007/08 – with last summer's strike action being blamed for the drop from 93.8 per cent in 2006-2007.

Edinburgh was ranked 15th out of the 20 worst-performing postcodes across the UK over the course of the year at delivering first class mail the next day.

The Scottish average for first class mail delivery was 85.2 per cent. The target for deliveries within one working day was 93 per cent.

Last summer's strikes saw Royal Mail workers mount pickets at a number of depots and sorting offices across the Capital.

The Royal Mail today said it was looking to get back to the record levels seen before last year's dispute.

But post watchdogs today hit out at the latest performance figures.

Alan Alexander, chairman of Postwatch Scotland, said: "Royal Mail's recovery was severely blown off course by last summer's strikes.

"Figures released today confirm that customers received poor levels of service.

"Furthermore, the fourth quarter results show that Royal Mail's recovery from the industrial action was in some respects disappointingly slow.

"The minimum target for first class mail has failed to be met in any postcode area, and five Scottish postcode areas remain in the bottom twenty.

He added: "What the figures do not reveal is what effect the strikes have had on the posting habits of social and business customers.

"Many of these customers had to find other ways to communicate. This will have reduced postal volumes, which will in turn damage Royal Mail's financial stability for years to come. Average daily volumes are down from 84 million items to about 80 million. It looks like the start of a downward trend partly caused by customers being forced to find other ways to pay bills, receive statements, order goods or respond to enquiries."

Last summer saw a series of strikes involving up to 130,000 members of the Communication Workers Union staging a series of 48-hour strikes over jobs, pay and pensions.

The Royal Mail came under fire in the weeks after the strike when they were asking customers to pick up their own post as they struggled to clear a backlog.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "As previously announced, industrial action last year damaged services for postal customers. However, the 2007-08 quality of service report also shows that the large majority of mail, including all bulk business mail, was performing at target or above target levels as the financial year ended in March 2008.

"The objective for everyone working in the business is to deliver further improvements."