Mail watcthdog letters are lost

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...27/ixhome.html

MPs are sent letters about misdelivered mail by post watchdog - but none
of them arrives
By Roya Nikkhah
(Filed: 27/06/2004)

The postal services watchdog, Pos****ch, has lodged an official
complaint with the Royal Mail after all the letters it sent to a group
of MPs were lost in the post - the missing items were promoting a
campaign to encourage people to report misdelivered or lost mail.

The letters, addressed to 49 MPs at the House of Commons, were posted
first class from Ely, Cambridgeshire, on May 13. Each was clearly marked
with the Pos****ch return address.

Gillian Shephard: 'Royal Mail is now a demoralised organisation'

After a fortnight, it became clear that none of the "Stamp Out
Misdelivered Mail" campaign material had been delivered.

Royal Mail had no explanation for this. A spokesman said: "We have
conducted a full investigation and have found no evidence of any
problems in the relevant postal areas. As far as we are concerned, the
letters are not in our system."

Peter Carr, the chairman of Pos****ch, said: "This incident is
symptomatic of a system that is failing many customers. This is our
opportunity to test the Royal Mail complaints procedure at first hand."

Pos****ch said it would demand a full explanation plus compensation for
the lost postage cost.

A recent survey by Pos****ch suggested that more than 14 million letters
were lost by Royal Mail every year. Pos****ch is currently pressing for
tougher laws to force Royal Mail to pay compensation for all lost post.
However, Mr Carr said he had so far seen "nothing but procrastination"
from the Government.

Gillian Shephard, the Tory MP for Norfolk South-West and one of
Pos****ch's intended recipients, has now complained to Allan Leighton,
Royal Mail's chairman. "I've not yet had a reply," she said. "Perhaps I
should also have faxed him."

She added: "Royal Mail is now a demoralised organisation that cannot
keep to its targets. In its zeal to cut costs, it has created a
workforce that is not as motivated as it once was."

Despite making a £220 million profit for the year 2003-4, Royal Mail's
customer service record remains dismal. Last month, it admitted that it
had failed on all 15 of its service targets, including the first-class,
next-day delivery target of 92.5 per cent.

Such poor performance has prompted an investigation by Postcomm, the
postal industry regulator, which expects to present Royal Mail with a
customer compensation bill of up to £80 million this year.

Royal Mail faced further criticism recently over hefty bonuses paid to
five of its executive directors. Adam Crozier, the chief executive,
earned a £300,000 bonus, taking his total pay to £664,224.

Mr Leighton and Mr Crozier were unavailable for comment yesterday.