Probe after Tory leaflet D2D delivery blunder

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/news ... y_blunder/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail is investigating how a Conservative Party leaflet was delivered inside a Bradford Council newsletter in Keighley.

It follows a complaint by a Riddlesden resident to the council last weekend.

Trevor Lindley, of Newlyn Road, said he was surprised to find the leaflet inside the council’s Community Pride publication, which is delivered free to households across Bradford and Keighley.

He said he contacted the council to check that taxpayers’ money was not being used to distribute Conservative material.

Responding to Mr Lindley, Geoff Podmore, Bradford Council’s public affairs and communications manager, said: “The Conservative Party leaflet is in no way associated with Community Pride and your council tax is not being used to distribute it.

“It has been produced and paid for by the Conservative Party and it will have paid Royal Mail to distribute it through its door-to-door service, on a separate contract from the one we have with Royal Mail to deliver Community Pride.”

However, he said the leaflet should not have been inserted into the council’s own publication and confirmed he would be making a formal complaint to Royal Mail. A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “We are investigating the complaint and working with the council to resolve the issue.

“We will remind our staff that they must not put one item of door to door mail inside another, even if this is for ease of delivery, as this is against Royal Mail guidelines.”

Mr Lindley, who stood as a Labour Party candidate for the Worth Valley in the 2006 council elections, said he was not sure that Royal Mail, as a public service, should be delivering political literature.

Bradford Council chief executive Tony Reeves, said: “The council is not involved in producing or distributing any party political publicity, this would be unlawful.”

Bradford Council’s Conservative leader, Cllr Kris Hopkins, said the leaflet was entirely separate from the council’s newsletter.

“It was perceived that one organisation was sponsoring the other but that was not the case,” he said.

He said Royal Mail had provided a service which the Conservative Party — not the council — had paid for.

[DGP1]

I don't believe someone could be so dim as to put political items together but then again they probably weren't told any different .

Still, it now means that I can tell everybody in the office that it's official RM policy not to put D2Ds inside each other and that there is no point taking them home at the weekend and doing them up, infact, I think I'll be asking the managers to give me a 20% (or 25% depending on whether the reserves do them) split of each duty so that I know which part of the frame to fill up on which day .

[theflyingpostman]

Since when have we been doing party-political door-2-doors? (except during the run up to an election.)

[DGP1]

Since when have we been doing party-political door-2-doors? (except during the run up to an election.)

We do them all the time over here, if they pay for it then we deliver it My office delivers the local MPs quarterly newsletter but I always make sure they are not put inside anything or that anything is put inside them

[Yahoorsur]

Since when have we been doing party-political door-2-doors? (except during the run up to an election.)

We do them all the time over here, if they pay for it then we deliver it My office delivers the local MPs quarterly newsletter but I always make sure they are not put inside anything or that anything is put inside them

Ditto, up here the Mp and the Msp both use the public purse to 'inform' the electorate what they have been up to.I think it's classed as a 'newsletter' and not as a party political leaflet,thats how they get round it.

[norbert]

Since when have we been doing party-political door-2-doors? (except during the run up to an election.)

We do them all the time over here, if they pay for it then we deliver it My office delivers the local MPs quarterly newsletter but I always make sure they are not put inside anything or that anything is put inside them

Ditto, up here the Mp and the Msp both use the public purse to 'inform' the electorate what they have been up to.I think it's classed as a 'newsletter' and not as a party political leaflet,thats how they get round it.

being accountable and transparent all courtesy of the public purse - nothing to do with propaganda of course

[POSTMAN]

I don't believe someone could be so dim as to put political items together but then again they probably weren't told any different .

Still, it now means that I can tell everybody in the office that it's official RM policy not to put D2Ds inside each other and that there is no point taking them home at the weekend and doing them up, infact, I think I'll be asking the managers to give me a 20% (or 25% depending on whether the reserves do them) split of each duty so that I know which part of the frame to fill up on which day .

[Big Daz]

Mangers turn a blind eye to putting leaflets inside each other, that what RM should worry about.

[DGP1]

Mangers turn a blind eye to putting leaflets inside each other, that what RM should worry about.

Not only do they 'turn a blind eye' but they also do it themselves to make sure the D2Ds go out on lapsed walks