Royal Mail is facing fresh scrutiny from MPs after the postal service was accused of prioritising deliveries of parcels over letters, putting households at risk of missing important bills and hospital appointments.
Managers and postal workers at the company are said to have admitted that first-class letters are being left behind in local sorting offices so that more-profitable parcels can be delivered instead.
The allegations, made by The Sunday Times after journalists worked undercover at the postal service, contradict repeated assertions by Royal Mail that no such policy exists.
It risks reopening a row with MPs on Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee, who have previously clashed repeatedly with the company’s executives over the issue.
MPs on the committee are scheduled to hold a hearing on an unrelated subject on Tuesday but will privately discuss the latest allegations against Royal Mail beforehand, The Telegraph understands.
It could potentially lead to executives being summoned in front of the committee again, reigniting a dispute about its delivery practices.
In hearings earlier this year, MPs took the highly unusual step of recalling Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s then-chief executive, who left in October, to give evidence a second time after his claim that parcels had not been prioritised was contradicted by staff whistleblowers.
The company is legally required to deliver letters to any address in the UK, six days a week, for standard prices within a certain time.
But it has repeatedly failed to hit punctuality targets, triggering a £5.6m fine from regulator Ofcom last month.
MPs clashed with Mr Thompson following reports that letters were being assigned a lower priority than parcels, a charge that he claimed was “absolutely not true”.
They recalled him to give evidence again, however, after postal workers sent them “photographs of posters and handwritten sheets, and audio and video recordings, all showing local managers giving essentially the same instructions to prioritise parcels”, a report said.
On Sunday, a Royal Mail spokesman continued to insist letters were not being intentionally left behind but admitted that during busy periods such as Christmas “it may be logistically necessary to clear parcels first to avoid network issues, keep the mail moving and ensure the safety of our colleagues, especially in small delivery offices”.
They added: “These measures have been shared with Ofcom who have not identified any suggestion that Royal Mail senior management have directed the prioritisation of parcels over letters outside of recognised contingency plans.
“The vast majority of mail is delivered on time and our latest published quality of service figures show that three quarters of first class letters arrive the following day, and 96pc are delivered within three days of posting.”
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzEyLzE3L3JveWFsLW1haWwtZmFjZXMtbXAtc2NydXRpbnktbGV0dGVycy11bmRlbGl2ZXJlZC13ZWVrcy_SAQA?oc=5
2023-12-17 18:53:00Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzEyLzE3L3JveWFsLW1haWwtZmFjZXMtbXAtc2NydXRpbnktbGV0dGVycy11bmRlbGl2ZXJlZC13ZWVrcy_SAQA
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar