Royal Mail pay £26,000 to Halifax customers

[Geezer]

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Ro ... 5561280.jp

Published Date: 18 August 2009

FIGURES show Royal Mail paid out almost £1 million in customer compensation – with £26,063 going to Halifax residents.
The new figures, show the postal service, which is currently being hit by industrial action, paid out £976,451 for complaints including loss, damage and delay in 2008-09, up from about £960,000 the previous year.

The bigger payout came despite the number of complaints in Yorkshire dropping by a quarter to 88,798.

This meant the average compensation payment shot up to £27.29 from £20.55, as the price of mistakes became more costly.

Royal Mail insisted falling complaints were due to service improvements, but campaigners warned it could lose ground because of the strikes by members of the Communication Workers' Union.

The Communication Workers' Union is midway through a series of 24-hour strikes over pay, jobs and services.

Thousands of postal workers will launch fresh action this week as industrial relations continue to worsen ahead of a national ballot.

Of the Yorkshire customers who complained, 35,456 received a payout – around 40 per cent. Almost 80 per cent of the compensation in the region, £762,346, was paid out for lost items.

A spokeswoman for Consumer Focus, which took over from industry watchdog Postwatch said: "Royal mail has made progress in meeting delivery standards, but with high numbers of lost mail items there is obviously still room for further improvement."

# Bradford residents were paid £131,541 in compensation; Hudd-ersfield £28,970 and Leeds £128,624.