Investigation into Coventry and Warwickshire post deliveries

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... -21855341/

A MAJOR investigation into Coventry and Warwickshire's much-criticised postal delivery service is under way.

It is understood that Royal Mail is conducting an enquiry into deliveries handled by the Bishop Street sorting office which serves Coventry and the county.

It comes after allegations over the misreporting of delivery figures and months of complaints by residents.

A well-placed source, who did not wish to be named, said a senior Royal Mail manager had been transferred to another area of the business while the investigation was being carried out.

He said: "There have been a lot of problems with deliveries and there have been allegations of misreporting delivery times.

"There is a big investigation going on in Coventry in relation to all aspects of deliveries. What time post is being delivered and who by."

Postal watchdog Postwatch is currently responsible for auditing the measurement system.

Director Andy Frewin said: "It is very important that Royal Mail's performance is accurately measured.

"Poor performance could lead to enforcement action being taken by the postal Regulator, Postcomm.

"Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, is concerned about any allegations that the measurement of performance is being manipulated and will be asking Royal Mail to explain what has happened and what they will be doing to prevent further manipulation of the measurement system if it has been corrupted."

He added: "Postwatch is currently responsible for auditing the measurement system but that responsibility will pass on October 1 to Postcomm."

Royal Mail declined say whether an investigation was under way but said its performance was improving.

The company referred to its latest figures which said 91.4 per cent of first class mail arrived on time, which is just below its local target of 91.5 per cent and under the national target of 93 per cent.

A statement said: "The most recent published quality of service report for the CV postcode area demonstrated that 91.4 per cent of first class mail was delivered next working day.

"Unaudited figures for the second quarter indicate that performance has improved further. However we are not complacent and will do all we can to continue improvements in the service we provide our customers.

"We do not comment on individual personnel matters."

BISHOP STREET FACTFILE

THE BISHOP STREET sorting and delivery office opened in 1976 at a cost of £2.7 million and replaced Post Office buildings scattered around the city.

It employs more than 500 people and handles post for Coventry and Warwickshire. However, it has been at the forefront of the news since bosses announced proposals to close it and move operations to Northamptonshire.

The decision to leave Coventry was confirmed and will take place in 2010.

My postal service is appalling says city woman

DOZENS of Coventry people have complained about the state of the postal service over the past few months.

Many fear the situation will get worse when the Bishop Street sorting office in the city is closed and moved to Northamptonshire by 2010.

Betty Henry, from Potters Green has voiced her complaints to Royal Mail on at least six occasions.

The 81-year-old, a volunteer worker for Age Concern, said she frequently had problems with her post, which was often delivered as late as 7pm - or not at all.

She said: "There is only way to describe the postal service - appalling. There are days when I don't get my post until 7pm.

"A few weeks ago I had no post for several days and then I got a large bundle, most of it first class that had taken more than seven days to reach me.

"My post is very important to me. I have missed hospital appointments and a council meeting."

Alan Dakin, of Quilletts Close, Bell Green, Coventry, said: "It seems strange to me that I sometimes don't get any mail for three days in a row. You would normally expect to get at least a piece of junk mail.

"It has been a big inconvenience for me because I have been waiting for some very important papers for an insurance claim.

"People are paying for stamps and they expect their post and things they order from the internet to be delivered on time."

Mr Dakin said he believed the post problems were widespread - his sister, who lives in Gulson Road, Lower Stoke, had similar problems with her mail.

Dave Hatton, area delivery representative for Coventry would not comment on the allegations but said: "I am pleased that Royal Mail are now making every effort to improve the quality of service that we are providing people in Coventry."..SUPL:

[POSTMAN]

Love it,i f***ing love it,first Edinburgh and now these,how many more are there ffs.

[Broxi51]

Love it,i f***ing love it,first Edinburgh and now these,how many more are there ffs.

It is brilliant Lets see how long it will take to establish trust on both sides now.
Hopefully the full story will be uncovered in Edinburgh & Coventry.

[POSTMAN]

Hmmmmm all it needs is a silly little website,a bit of inside knowledge,some twat writing an article and pushing it out to all who will read it..............

See you in a few days...............

[pickaname]

It was pretty damn obvious that management were going to do this to grab thier bonuses and allowances...I bet this is going on in every larger office in the country.

[DGP1]

It's going on in all DO's, we're constantly being told that 'the mail is down' even when it's obvious that there is more

We went from an average day of 30k to an average of 40k and now that we're using the MC only figures it's down to 20k .

[pickaname]

DOM's up and down the country must be bricking it then. Always found it weird that the mail was supposedly down but i still had 8 x 16kg bags...

[lifesentence]

Rock on Tommy Lets see them dance now.

[pinstripe]

It's going on in all DO's, we're constantly being told that 'the mail is down' even when it's obvious that there is more

We went from an average day of 30k to an average of 40k and now that we're using the MC only figures it's down to 20k .

My office (at the start of the summer) was, according to my lino, set up to handle 90,000 items per day. We were supposedly receiving only 40,000 according to their figures. Is it any wonder that summer lapsing failed on the first week.
Surely it is in the best interests of the company to know exactly how much mail we are delivering. Saying that, in the current climate, maybe it's not such a good idea

Shall we have a sweepstake to see how many M/C's and D/O's are massaging the figures downwards?

[Spedley]

I don't know about 91.4% for letters but I'd guess about 80% for packets!

[guvenor]

ive always disputed mail volumes since lapsing duties started
coincidence ? volumes went down as soon as extra pressure put on postmen to deliv lapsed duties
well heres a laugh volumes down bank hol here today so going in to about 3 days mail tomorrow guess what well be told NOT BUSY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well i for one will not be booking otime.had enough lies and deciet
leave that for their favs who like ot but not walking otime
and as for xmas i couldnt care bout it they make sure we worked our time over light periods during summer HA HA
IM INSTRUCTING MY MANAGER TO MAKE SURE I WORK TO MY TIME AT XMAS no pressure lovely cant have it both ways

[norbert]

Love it,i f***ing love it,first Edinburgh and now these,how many more are there ffs.

Where's " Alaistair Campbell " ? surely this can't be true ? - no rows ?

Seriously it stinks - says everything about the leadership and style of management , the so called coincidences , there will be plenty more wagons stuffed with parcels all over the country - crisis after crisis with the drunken sailors .

Even Unite re scathingly critical of RM's senior management - hardly the fifth column ?

It's a strange perverse culture - RM got caught with their pants down at Xmas - the backlog of packets and parcels had to go on the vans that would normally be used for reggies as the media had got hold of it - RM had brought it on themselves with slash and burn .

For all this ruthless commercialism - you've got a management system that exists for the benefit of it's managers and playing politics rather than running something - very old school PO

If there is a fiddle by local managers for bonuses , RM are only suspending managers because it's embarrassing - it just proves despite all the pressure and control from above , the old hands have learnt to fiddle the system for bonuses , however you have to wonder as to who encourages this culture :lfo ? - usual scenario with RM is not being able to control their rogue managers ?

The other scenario will be the Nuremberg " We wer only takin ze orders " and junior and middle management blaming Senior Management , RM only hear what they want to hear and everything has to be to a foregone conclusion it doesn't matter how allegedly perverse and corrupt the methods are ?

Big Al is also going just a coincidence