Put an end to PO queues, consumer watchdog tells RM

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Put an end to post office queues, consumer watchdog tells Royal Mail

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -Mail.html

Almost a quarter of customers at post offices are spending ten minutes or more queuing, a survey has found.



By Ben Leach
Last Updated: 6:18PM GMT 16 Nov 2008

The research, by the watchdog Consumer Focus, also revealed that more than one in three customers have to wait for more than five minutes before being served.

Almost a third of post office staff (30 per cent) surveyed were found to be giving customers the wrong proof of postage - leaving customers with insufficient proof to claim compensation for lost or redelivered mail.

Consumer Focus has called on the Post Office to introduce measures to combat the failings.

Ed Mayo, the chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: "Around the world people associate Britain with queuing. We need to ditch the service culture that assumes that the customer can wait.

"The Post Office must bring forward and publish its plans to modernise the remaining Crown post offices. Branches with queuing and service problems should be targeted first rather than those that make the most money."

The survey comes after James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, defended the awarding of the card account contract to the Post Office - although he refused to disclose how much compensation thwarted bidders would be paid by the scrapping of the tendering process.

Last week ministers announced that the company could keep its five-year £1 billion contract to distribute benefits - the post office card account (Poca).

The decision was credited with having secured the future of 3,000 Post Office branches.

Mr Purnell said: "It was the right decision for our customers and it was the right decision for Post Offices. When we created the Post Office Card Account we did it precisely because people find it an easy way to get their money out of the Post Office.

"But it is also important for the Post Office network and this means they will be able to plan with certainty until 2015, supporting what is a vital part of our communities."

There are 4.3 million Poca holders, who use the card to pick up benefits, especially pensions, from the Post Office.

The Consumer Focus survey, of 424 UK post offices, found that 22 per cent of customers in the Crown post offices are spending 10 minutes or more queuing, and 38 per cent wait for more than 5 minutes.