Royal Mail to avoid millions in compensation

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Royal Mail to avoid millions in compensation to strike-hit customers

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The Royal Mail will avoid paying millions in pounds in compensation to customers hit by the worst strike in two years.

Consumers are entitled to be given a book of 6 first class stamps, worth £2.34, as compensation if their letter is lost or delayed by three days or more. People that suffer from lost post are entitled to compensation worth as much as 100 first class stamps.

However, consumer groups said Royal Mail made it very difficult to claim compensation and that millions of inconvenienced customers would end up receiving nothing, despite the service admitting to millions of letters already delayed.

On top of this, Royal Mail has been given special dispensation from the postal regulator to avoid paying any large business compensation. During the last strike all compensation to bulk mailers, such as catalogue retailers and websites that sent out regular parcels, was suspended and it is likely this will be repeated.

To receive compensation consumers need to prove their letter is delayed or lost. The most common type of proof is a certificate of posting, a form that can be picked up from a post office. Senders of letters need to fill in this form - which states to where the letter is being sent - at the same time as posting the letter and have the form stamped by someone behind the counter.

Nigel Woods, of the postal watchdog Consumer Focus, said: “Anyone posting anything of monetary value should do so using special delivery. It will cost more than normal postage, but a level of insurance is built into the price.

“A proof of posting certificate will be required for compensation for lost, damaged or delayed items. The proof will only take a few seconds to produce, but you have to persevere with the queues at your local Post Office to get it.”

He also pointed out that many people lived far away from their local post office.

During the last national strike in 2007 £2.6 million worth of stamps were given out, a fraction of the value of all of the lost and delayed letters. During this strike "over a hundred million" letters became snarled up in the system, according to the Royal Mail itself.

The Communication and Workers Union has started balloting 121,000 Royal Mail workers about a proposed national strike that would start next month. However, research by the Daily Telegraph has discovered that a series of rolling, local strikes has crippled a significant part of the network already, with one in eight letters delayed.

The Royal Mail insisted that its compensation scheme was fair. A spokesman said: "We understand that not everyone will have proof of posting. We look into each case on an individual basis."

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Royal Mail could face a fine running into hundreds of millions as a backlog alleged by union chiefs to be some 25 million items piles up.

As balloting of 120,000 staff on strike action began yesterday, the Communication Workers Union claimed recent walkouts were causing chaos.

Royal Mail admitted nine million items were either delayed or stuck, almost twice the figure it quoted last week.

Consumer Focus said: "There are conflicting reports on delayed mail, but consumers are clearly experiencing problems."

Regardless of which claims are true, Royal Mail is likely to miss delivery targets for this quarter. If the CWU votes for a national strike in the dispute over cuts to pay, jobs and services, Royal Mail will also fail in the vital period leading up to Christmas.

This could, in theory, lead regulators to fine it up to 10% of the turnover of its letters business - £670million.

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Consumer Focus said: "There are conflicting reports on delayed mail

More like conflicting reports in newspapers

Torygraph-
The Royal Mail will avoid paying millions in pounds in compensation to customers hit by the worst strike in two years.

Mirror-Royal Mail could face a fine running into hundreds of millions as a backlog