Harpenden workers' anger as staff are moved to St Albans

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A postman has claimed agency workers who have been employed by Royal Mail to help with the backlog of post in Harpenden are "receiving £16 an hour" despite a bid to save cash.

Royal Mail sold the Harpenden delivery office in London Road earlier on in the year in a bid to make savings and 52 members of staff were gradually moved over to the St Albans office.

The Review reported earlier in the month that a pile of packages had accumulated at the Harpenden delivery office while the move took place over four weeks.


Agency workers "to ensure all mail for delivery goes out every day" were employed over the transition period of four weeks.

The postman, who asked not to be identified, said: "All the postmen and postwomen used to pride themselves on giving the public in Harpenden a first class service.

"We used to post every letter every day but this is no longer happening due to the ridiculous new system.

"It is a complete joke.

"Royal Mail has had to pay an extra 2,000 hours to casual staff at a rate of £16 per hour in the first four weeks of this transition in order to try and complete the rounds.

"Allegedly l have also heard that half of the budget for the South East area has been spent just by Harpenden, or should I say waste."

The few members of staff that remained at the Harpenden delivery office were finally moved over to the St Albans office on Saturday (September 22).

The postman also claimed that half of the Royal Mail budget for the South East area has just been spent by Harpenden and cash was also being spent on compensating post staff who are having to travel further to St Albans, along with cash being spent on renting 15 vans rental to take postman from St Albans to Harpenden and back.

Royal Mail has refused to deny or confirm figures, due to confidentiality reasons.

Sally Hopkins, Royal Mail spokesman, said: "Faced with declining mail volumes and increasingly tough trading conditions, Royal Mail must constantly review the efficiency of its operations.

"We are now handling around 58 million items a day (down from around 84 million in 2005-06) across the UK and so we must modernise our operations for a more effective and efficient Royal Mail.

"The consolidation of our delivery offices will play a major part in allowing us to place our business on a sound, secure and stable footing for the future.

"We have recently relocated our Harpenden delivery operations to St Albans as part of this modernisation.

"These changes will require a period of adjustment for staff as the changes bed in.

"Royal Mail is doing everything possible to maintain a high level of service to its customers, including using additional resources to ensure all mail for delivery goes out every day and is delivered every day to our customers."