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BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
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BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/b ... l-32215178
BBC's Panorama investigates the Royal Mail after the company was fined £5m last year for failing to hit targets. Where's My Post? hears from former workers and those whose missed letters have cost them greatly
Millions rely on Royal Mail for their post each morning, but monumental errors show it's not always delivering.
While the Post Office scandal has been thrown back into the spotlight, the BBC's Panorama team has been investigating the country's other paramount postal institution. The two were previously intertwined as part of the same group but in 2012, they were split into separate businesses as part of the privatisation of Royal Mail.
A new documentary - Royal Mail: Where's My Post? - examines the company's recent failings after they were fined more than £5million last year for missing targets. Panorama hears from whistleblowers and senior management, who believe the postal system must change if Royal Mail is to survive, and also those who have fallen victim to missing mail, such as Jasmine Moulton.
She is mum to five-year-old Harper, who has skin allergies, and three-year-old Joshua, who has difficulty breathing and swallowing. Both children missed hospital appointments, and even an operation, because they never received letters informing them.
When she received a call at the start of the year from the hospital regarding the missed appointments, Jasmine was left gobsmacked. Speaking to the BBC, she said: "It stresses me out every day because I just think, how many other appointments have we missed?"
The documentary shows the Royal Mail's Winsford delivery office in Cheshire, four miles from the mum's home, where a steady stream of locals arrive to pick up undelivered letters. One woman, who is recovering from cancer, raised concerns about not receiving a letter from the NHS.
"I'm expecting an appointment next month. If I miss it, it could be life-threatening," she says. Under Universal Service Obligation, Royal Mail is required by law to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week to every address in the UK.
Rules state that second-class letters, that'll now set you back 75p to send, should arrive within three working days. First class letters, which cost £1.25, should arrive the following working day. According to regulator Ofcom, 92 per cent of first class post arrived on time 10 years ago. But this figure is now down to 74 per cent.
In some areas, the situation is worse, whereby in 17 postcodes from June to September last year, more than a third of first class post was late. As a result, the company was fined £5.6m by Ofcom in November 2023 for failing to meet targets.
While the general public is sending fewer letters, there has been a boom in parcels and packages, thanks to the continuing surge of online shopping. But in the November, at a notoriously busy time for shopping, Royal Mail lost its 360-year-old monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office branches.
The service instead signed deals with rivals Evri and DPD in the run-up to Christmas following concerns about poor quality of service. Current and former Royal Mail staff revealed to Panorma that letters have been left behind in sorting offices as parcels and tracked items have been prioritised.
A former area manager, who recently left the company, said they were so short-staffed he instructed his team to leave letters behind for weeks at a time. "You knew that you were letting customers down and there was no hiding from it," he tells the programme.
He claims senior management would have been aware of the situation, as every delivery office collects daily data on what is and what isn't going out on time. He said those at the top were "reporting the failures".
Jenny Hall, director of corporate affairs, said: "There are certain times of the year particularly, or where you've got resourcing issues like Christmas, where volumes double. And we can tell you that sometimes it's logistically necessary to move the parcels first. However, it should not be happening as a matter of course. What should not be happening is that sort of instruction."
BBC's Panorama investigates the Royal Mail after the company was fined £5m last year for failing to hit targets. Where's My Post? hears from former workers and those whose missed letters have cost them greatly
Millions rely on Royal Mail for their post each morning, but monumental errors show it's not always delivering.
While the Post Office scandal has been thrown back into the spotlight, the BBC's Panorama team has been investigating the country's other paramount postal institution. The two were previously intertwined as part of the same group but in 2012, they were split into separate businesses as part of the privatisation of Royal Mail.
A new documentary - Royal Mail: Where's My Post? - examines the company's recent failings after they were fined more than £5million last year for missing targets. Panorama hears from whistleblowers and senior management, who believe the postal system must change if Royal Mail is to survive, and also those who have fallen victim to missing mail, such as Jasmine Moulton.
She is mum to five-year-old Harper, who has skin allergies, and three-year-old Joshua, who has difficulty breathing and swallowing. Both children missed hospital appointments, and even an operation, because they never received letters informing them.
When she received a call at the start of the year from the hospital regarding the missed appointments, Jasmine was left gobsmacked. Speaking to the BBC, she said: "It stresses me out every day because I just think, how many other appointments have we missed?"
The documentary shows the Royal Mail's Winsford delivery office in Cheshire, four miles from the mum's home, where a steady stream of locals arrive to pick up undelivered letters. One woman, who is recovering from cancer, raised concerns about not receiving a letter from the NHS.
"I'm expecting an appointment next month. If I miss it, it could be life-threatening," she says. Under Universal Service Obligation, Royal Mail is required by law to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week to every address in the UK.
Rules state that second-class letters, that'll now set you back 75p to send, should arrive within three working days. First class letters, which cost £1.25, should arrive the following working day. According to regulator Ofcom, 92 per cent of first class post arrived on time 10 years ago. But this figure is now down to 74 per cent.
In some areas, the situation is worse, whereby in 17 postcodes from June to September last year, more than a third of first class post was late. As a result, the company was fined £5.6m by Ofcom in November 2023 for failing to meet targets.
While the general public is sending fewer letters, there has been a boom in parcels and packages, thanks to the continuing surge of online shopping. But in the November, at a notoriously busy time for shopping, Royal Mail lost its 360-year-old monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office branches.
The service instead signed deals with rivals Evri and DPD in the run-up to Christmas following concerns about poor quality of service. Current and former Royal Mail staff revealed to Panorma that letters have been left behind in sorting offices as parcels and tracked items have been prioritised.
A former area manager, who recently left the company, said they were so short-staffed he instructed his team to leave letters behind for weeks at a time. "You knew that you were letting customers down and there was no hiding from it," he tells the programme.
He claims senior management would have been aware of the situation, as every delivery office collects daily data on what is and what isn't going out on time. He said those at the top were "reporting the failures".
Jenny Hall, director of corporate affairs, said: "There are certain times of the year particularly, or where you've got resourcing issues like Christmas, where volumes double. And we can tell you that sometimes it's logistically necessary to move the parcels first. However, it should not be happening as a matter of course. What should not be happening is that sort of instruction."
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"Employers are always seeking more productivity from workers, without considering the human factor, the worker's age, the weather conditions and the intense heat. We need to intervene before it's too late, reducing working hours and the load carried by workers, because it's impossible to sustain the rhythm they're forced to work at for many years."
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
Jenny Hall said "there are certain times of the year....."
Every effing day is what she meant.
Every effing day is what she meant.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
I thought that she was a new face..you know the Royal Mail spokesperson. However she was sat right behind Simon Thompson during the Managerial Humiliation trial at the parliamentary enquiry.
So she's gifted at swerving the truth then.
So she's gifted at swerving the truth then.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
Yes I remember the look on her face.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
I hope that more previous managers speak up and tell it like it is, even though the treated us like crap.
Tell it like it is.
Tell it like it is.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
Panorama, half an hour of nothing we didn’t already know and lazy reporting from the bbc “we asked Simon Thompson to reply to our findings but he didn’t get back to us” is that it i remember programs like panorama would go in search of these people to get their response! And the biggest kick in the nuts was interviewing rico back like he was some sort of saviour of Royal Mail! It was his original despot idea attacking the workforce and demoralising them that ended where we are now!
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
WTF was going on in that Super Hub where there was a bloody great Congo Line of "Staff" just passing a Yorke along from one end of the warehouse to the other? ..... Bizarre to say the least!
If I was RM I certainly wouldn't have been advertising it ... it makes us look even bigger TWATS than the public already think we are!
If I was RM I certainly wouldn't have been advertising it ... it makes us look even bigger TWATS than the public already think we are!
Like all Wage Slaves, he had two crosses to bear: The people he worked for and the people he worked with! (Stephen Vizinczey.)
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
The Royal Mail workers who formed the human conveyer belt must have been told by Royal Mail management to stand there and look stupid for the cameras . I don't understand why the reporter didn't ask the Royal Mail spokesperson what was going on in the staged film scene , I must be thick because I don't have a clue what was going on in the film . From what I saw the management must be total idiots for trying to portray our working practises in such a bad way . If I had been told to stand in a line for the cameras in my Royal Mail uniform passing a York along I know what I would have said . God knows what the investors and share holders thought about that staged farce . ( maybe they are actively trying to devalue the company so that they can buy the shares at a cheap price , we all know Royal Mail plan is to concentrate on the profitable parcel side of the business)
I don't understand What message these idiot managers are trying to send out to our customers , don't managers understand that when the business goes under they will be nothing for them to manage , and from what I see on daily basis is there is not one Royal Mail manager capable of managing at any other company
I don't understand What message these idiot managers are trying to send out to our customers , don't managers understand that when the business goes under they will be nothing for them to manage , and from what I see on daily basis is there is not one Royal Mail manager capable of managing at any other company
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
I doubt managers like Jenny Hall care, once she leaves she'll get a decent pay off and no doubt then get a similar job elsewhere. Just look at Simon's CV before he joined us as a good example.
They are now like football managers, never seemingly out of work for long.
They are now like football managers, never seemingly out of work for long.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
The top managers will always be looked after they all have a friend of a friend who can get them a job at a different company
What I meant to say was that Royal Mail line managers are inept and unemployable in the big bad world
What I meant to say was that Royal Mail line managers are inept and unemployable in the big bad world
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
I genuinely couldn't work out why they would have it look like that on national TV. The only reasons I can think of are:Dorset Plodder wrote: ↑28 Feb 2024, 08:23WTF was going on in that Super Hub where there was a bloody great Congo Line of "Staff" just passing a Yorke along from one end of the warehouse to the other? ..... Bizarre to say the least!
If I was RM I certainly wouldn't have been advertising it ... it makes us look even bigger TWATS than the public already think we are!
- 1. Make the job as a 'postie' look like a piece of piss.
- 2. Make it look like they are already overstaffed.
- 3. Make it seem like the 'staff costs' are too much.
The vast majority of the general public know nothing/don't care about the workings of RM. So it objectively looks like an easy/overstaffed job on the TV screen.
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Re: BBC Panorama: Troubled side of Royal Mail from whistleblowers to actual lives in danger
CarryingMGMT wrote: ↑28 Feb 2024, 17:55
I genuinely couldn't work out why they would have it look like that on national TV. The only reasons I can think of are:
- 1. Make the job as a 'postie' look like a piece of piss.
- 2. Make it look like they are already overstaffed.
- 3. Make it seem like the 'staff costs' are too much.
The vast majority of the general public know nothing/don't care about the workings of RM. So it objectively looks like an easy/overstaffed job on the TV screen.
I was thinking the same but maybe it's a completely different world in these hubs? It's a shame they can't have a dozen staff actually sorting through these Yorks so that we don't have to sort through them when they arrive.
On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.
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