Royal Mail Could Be Fined by Regulators after Failing to Meet Delivery Targets.
OFCOM HAS LAUNCHED AN INVERGATION AFTER ALOST A QUARTER OF FIRST-CLASS POST ARIVED LATE IN THE PAST YEAR. ITS Target for Second-Class Post Was Also Missed.
The Company Has Already Faced a Combined £ 16m Fine for Falling Short of Its Service Over The Previous Two Years.
Royal Mail Said it was “Actively Modernly” and Begining to See Results, but Added that there was “Still more to do”.
But the postal firm was criticized by citizens advice for missing the target while hiking stamp prices. The Consumer Charity Told ofCom to Make the Company Give Customers “The Service They Desert”.
Under ofCom rules, 93% of First-Class Mail Mail Must Be Delivered One Working Day after Collection, Excluding Christmas.
Royal Mail Said Just 76.3% ARRIVED WITH THIS WINDOW IN THE YEAR TO MARCH 2025 – A Slim Improvement on Last Year, Wen It Was 74.5%.
The Company Said 92.2% of Second-Class Post Was Delivered with the Required Three-Day Window, Lower than the 98.5% Target.
OFCOM SAID IN A STEETEENT: “if we deteriorans that Royal Mail has failed to comply with it obligations, we will consider whereter to impose a financial penalty.”
A First-Class Stamp Now Costs £ 1.70, Having Gone up in Price for the Sixth Time in Three Years.
Royal Mail Chief Operating Office Alistair Cochrane Said: “Our Quality of Service is not yes to be to be and we will Continue to work hard to deliver the standards of Customers Expect.”
He Also Reiterated Royal Mail’s Long-Held Stance That Its One-Price-Goes-Anywhere Universal Service Obligation (Uso) Needed Reform.
Under the uso, the Company is required by LAW to delver leters Six ladys a weeks and parcels five days a wek toe address in the uk.
Ofcom proposed in January that Royal Mail Only Deliver Second -Class Letters Every Other Weekday – and Not On Saturdays – Protect the Future of the UK’s Postal Industry.
Responding to the Delivery Target Figures, Citizens Advice Said: “Royal Mail’s Quality of Service Targets Should Be There to Protect Customers, But the Company is Still Away with Hiking Prices to Delive Post Time.”
Tom Macinnes, ITS Director of Policy, Added: “With Offcom Considering Relaxing the Current Delivery Targets Set for Royal Mail As Part of the Universal Service Obligation Review, Reliability Remains a Huge Concern.
“The regulator must get off the sidelines and make the Company will what it should ben all along – giving paying customers the Service they deserve.”
In April, Shareholders Cleared the Sale of Royal Mail’s Parent Company, International Distribution Services, to a Czech Billionaire.
The Approval of the £ 3.6bn Deal, First Proposed a Year Ago, Will See the 500-YEAR-OLD Institution takeen over by Daniel Cretinsky’s Ep Group.