COMPLAINTS about the postal service in York and North Yorkshire have fallen in the past year but by less than the national average, new figures show.
In 2008/9, Royal Mail received 8,976 complaints from disgruntled customers in the YO postcode area, with thousands of letters being lost, damaged or delivered late.
The figure is down by four per cent on 2007/8, less than the national drop of eight per cent.
And while the number of complaints is down, compensation payouts have increased from £82,800 to £104,699.
Postal workers, politicians and Royal Mail all welcomed the reduction.
Selby MP John Grogan said: “The significant fall in the number of complaints no doubt reflects the hard work of management and, in particularly, ordinary postal workers in trying to get the mail out on time.
“I hope in the coming weeks that a long-term agreement can be reached between the Royal Mail and the trade unions to allow this improvement to continue into the next year.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said the 32 per cent rise last year was as a result of industrial action, but said: “We take any complaint seriously and it’s pleasing there has been a decline.”
Paul Clays, regional secretary of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), said: “Obviously postmen and postwomen are working harder and delivering the results for Royal Mail.”
The CWU in York and North Yorkshire are not taking part in the strikes currently affecting other parts of England.
But Mr Clays attacked the company’s attitude to its staff, saying: “The way Royal Mail treat us, you would think we were doing no more work.
“It’s inevitable we will be drawn into a row when employees are treated like dirt.”
Of the 8,976 complaints, 3,504 related to items going missing; 767 to post being misdelivered; 488 to items being delayed and 424 to mail being damaged.
Nearly half the complaints – 3,998 – led to compensation being paid.
Nationally, there were 1.3 million complaints, leading to total payouts of just over £13 million.
