Royal Mail failing to deliver

[POSTMAN]

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scottis ... allen.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THE Royal Mail was once the envy of the world for its first class service - but now it's struggling to deliver.

And today we can reveal the shameful goings-on at Scotland's biggest sorting office - where 25 staff were given the boot in just two weeks for nicking Christmas presents from parcels.

Items including iPods and mobile phones were pilfered by temporary employees - part of a drive by Royal Mail bosses to save cash by employing MORE casuals and LESS full-time staff.

The level of thefts stunned a News of the World reporter working undercover at the centre in Bathgate, West Lothian.

After just 45 MINUTES of training, he was told to start sifting through some of the 350,000 letters and packages that pass through the giant facility each day.

And during his time there he found:

GREEDY staff ripping open parcels to nick the valuable items inside,

SNEAKY thieves hiding stolen goods under tiles in the staff toilets,

FORMER political aides and even war heroes taking up temporary posts, and

RESENTMENT between full-time Royal Mail staff and the agency workers they see as strike-breaking strike breakers.

After arriving at the centre, our man was shown a health and safety DVD - but given NO tutoring on sorting mail.

Pyramid business centre

He then joined a 60-strong team of temps on the 2pm to 10pm backshift. Our investigator was left to pick up skills on the job - dealing with festive mail from all over Scotland.

He had to grab packages and large letters from a cage, study the postcodes, then place them in the correct mailbag.

But as he worked, our man was astonished to learn of blatant thieving by other staff members - despite bosses bragging of tight security.

During one shift, a security officer warned employees they were being watched by a dozen CCTV cameras. Yet in his first four days our man was told by bosses that a dozen workers had been SACKED for stealing from packages

And he learned of at least 13 more being axed during the rest of his stint. Our investigator discovered that a favourite ploy was for thieves to stash nicked iPods and mobile phones in the toilets until the end of their shift.

One worker said: "Every year we get temporary workers who come here with a view to nicking Christmas presents.

Sorting room

"It's big business to some - and they keep coming up with new scams. They know security isn't as tight as it's made out to be."

Yet among the agency staff earning £5.95 per hour was an ex-RAF war hero.

The former sergeant, in his fifties, served in Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland and the Falklands before quitting the forces two years ago. But he had to take on the work to help pay for Christmas gifts for his family.

He told our man: "If I'd known a recession was around the corner I'd have stayed in the RAF. My pension is not enough, so I have to do this."

But he added: "Send me back to Basra - this place is HORRIBLE."

Also working there were a redundant surveyor and an MSP's aide who'd lost his job at Holyrood. The centre, a former Motorola factory, was opened in October by Royal Mail, who said it was to clear the expected Christmas backlog.

But the move angered trade union members - who believed it was planned to undermine their industrial action.

And even though the walk-outs have been halted to allow talks to take place, an insider revealed there is still great distrust between full-time staff and temps.

Our source said: "Most of us believe this place was only opened to pay agency strike breakers to cover in case of a seasonal strike."

The industrial action was called off a few weeks before our man began work. But one temp told how full-time staff had tried to niggle him. He said: "In the first few days, you could hear them muttering under their breath as we walked past.

"They try to give us the really boring jobs and get us working flat-out. I can understand why they'd be annoyed at agencies for supporting the Royal Mail during the strikes. But I am only here to make a bit of money for Christmas."

During his fortnight at Bathgate our man sorted dozens of gifts sent to singing sensation Susan Boyle, 48, by fans. Some were simply addressed to "Susan Boyle, Blackburn, Scotland".

He left with a great admiration for the vast majority of Royal Mail staff who work hard for low pay to deliver a service many of us take for granted.

Last night Nationalist MP Mike Weir said: "The high number of sackings of temporary workers raises serious questions about vetting procedures.

"These despicable actions highlight the dangers of Royal Mail increasing its number of temporary workers."

Local Labour MP Michael Connarty added: "I am angry, but not surprised, to hear of workers at Bathgate being treated shoddily."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "All employees are security vetted. Eleven people were sacked from the Bathgate site. Two have been reported to the fiscal."

He added: "All employees receive training before commencing employment. There are work area coaches to assist anyone who has issues or needs extra training."

[smokerjim]

Blimey! Who'd have thunk it? Even the News of the Screws are printing supportive stories....oh hang on, I forgot - Murdoch has dumped Brown ( it was nice to imagine he might have found a conscience for a few minutes )

[noggin1969]

W

[steven100]

"told our man: "If I'd known a recession was around the corner I'd have stayed in the RAF. My pension is not enough, so I have to do this."

But he added: "Send me back to Basra - this place is HORRIBLE."

Its worrying when someone wants to go back to Basra. Again it highlights the problems within RM and the poor management skills they have.

[pinstripe]

"During one shift, a security officer warned employees they were being watched by a dozen CCTV cameras. Yet in his first four days our man was told by bosses that a dozen workers had been SACKED for stealing from packages"

It says more about the calibre of the casuals employed than anything else. Thieving idiots had been warned.

[fishtank]

One of the theives had a car boot full of amazon packets.
This is despite IB crawling all over the place.

[smokerjim]

One of the theives had a car boot full of amazon packets.
This is despite IB crawling all over the place.

IB must be too busy trying to find FT not wearing PPE

[Tman]

Its worrying when someone wants to go back to Basra. Again it highlights the problems within RM and the poor management skills they have.

It's more worrying that anyone would have any faith in News of the Screws articles.
Don't you have access to a salt cellar..

[axeman]

Doesn't hide the fact royal fail has bad managers in droves does i't eh 'tman' ???

[POSTMAN]

Its worrying when someone wants to go back to Basra. Again it highlights the problems within RM and the poor management skills they have.

It's more worrying that anyone would have any faith in News of the Screws articles.
Don't you have access to a salt cellar..

It's actually just a re run of one from another news paper article we had on here a while back.

[norbert]

Blimey! Who'd have thunk it? Even the News of the Screws are printing supportive stories....oh hang on, I forgot - Murdoch has dumped Brown ( it was nice to imagine he might have found a conscience for a few minutes )

this is it and Dave Snooty wants to privatise - just present a picture of a public sector firm being unmanageable and /or having management failures / bad IR . :mfo is just doing the spadework for Con Man Cameron by getting his hired hands to do managed decline .

The ironic thing is that :mfo wanted to be seen as the saviour of the PO / RM as compared to Cameron . His problem is that he tries to juggle too many balls in the air , he's not really the Prince Of Darkness as people can see right through him . A lot of things New Labour , fall apart on their own contradictions .