POST OFFICE

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Post Office bosses turned to blackmail and spying to make sub-postmasters co-operate with their closure programme. Postmasters were told exactly how to answer questions from worried customers, and warned that undercover PO staff would check that they complied. They were also told they could lose compensation payments of up to £60,000 if they failed to use the official line.

The threats came in a letter sent to all sub-postmasters by Sue Huggins, head of the closure programme. The letter sets out the key messages to be adhered to, falling customer numbers, change in customer behaviour and rising losses, then adds a startling secret police warning.

It says, "Representatives of Post Office Limited will visit branches at random, on an anonymous basis, to ensure these key messages are being delivered in an accurate and professional manner. Any compensation package offered to you if your branch is selected for closure shall be subject to you having complied, and continuing to comply, up to the date of closure." Mrs Huggins's letter says that any customer who asks if there is an appeal process against a closure must be told, "No." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Aug/07)

Post office managers want to close 16 of Derby's 43 branches and have been pushing ahead with a programme of closures across the country. Post Office Limited said the closures were necessary "to modernise and restructure the service" and says there are too many branches competing for too little business.

Paul Maisey, Post Office Limited head of area, said, "All the branches we propose to close are poorly used, have suffered from under-investment and many are located in premises that are too small." Customers from the post offices under threat would have to travel to other branches nearby, which the company says, are mostly less than a mile away and have good public transport links.

The branches under threat are Uttoxeter Old Road, St Barnabas branch in Stables Street, Scarborough Rise, Darley Abbey branch in Duffield Road, Duffield Road, Nottingham Road in Spondon, Burton Road, Babington Lane, Browning Circle, Normanton Lane, Old Normaton branch in Village Street, Park Gates branch in Osmaston Road, Roosevelt Avenue in Chaddesden, St Thomas' branch in Cambridge Street, St Dunstan's branch in Osmaston Road, and Osmaston Park Road.

Strangely, the post office in Babington Lane has been closed for over twelve months!

To coincide with the launch of a new postal regulator, The Post Office changed its name to Consignia at a cost of £2 million. The new name was designed to show that the Post Office does a lot more than deliver mail. The Post Office will also become a plc, which was described by Chief Executive John Roberts as a "major opportunity" for the business. There was little visible change for customers, because delivery workers still worked for the Royal Mail and high street and village outlets were still called Post Offices.

After just 16 months the Consignia name was changed to Royal Mail PLC because, according to a Consignia spokesman "the chairman Allan Leighton doesn't like the name Consignia, and it's the intention to change the name of the organisation" adding, " we have no intention of spending very much money on rebranding. We would like this to be as inexpensive as possible."

He said its name change was justified on the grounds that it suited its goal of becoming an international postal operator. The decision followed a £500,000 consultation with Dragon Brands. The spokesman said the £2 million spent on its previous makeover would have been incurred anyway following the Post Office's evolution into a PLC. The postal services group is expected to report a £1.1 billion full-year loss.

Royal Mail has contempt for its customers in Derby. First, it brought forward the closing time of its office in Midland Road from 8.15pm to 7.30pm, but it could not bothered to amend the sign outside the office, showing the closing times. Then it abolished the first delivery of the day so that mail was always delivered so late that far more people had to take a card to the sorting office to claim their post.

Now, having created a problem, it expects the public to queue in the rain for their post at an understaffed tiny office. Within yards is a huge well-run post office counter with a proper queuing system, but this closes before people get home. No doubt the Royal Mail will tell you that it has nothing to do with Post Office Counters. Rubbish! They are both part of the same Post Office group.

Royal Mail clearly feels it is more important that the two parts do not talk to each other than to give a civilised service to the people who pay its staff's wages: the customers. This is an appalling abuse of the Post Office's monopoly. The sooner it is broken the better. Robin Wood

Over the last couple of months, I have ordered goods via the internet and paid for delivery by the Royal Mail. On two separate occasions I was at home expecting delivery of these items only to receive with my other mail a P739 card stating that delivery could not be made because no-one was in.

The postman had not even bothered knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell. I am at a loss as to why this practice takes place. Is it because the Royal Mail's mission is to cause the most inconvenience? Having been unsuccessful, like others, to speak by telephone to someone at Midland Road, I was forced to make yet another trip to the caller's office to collect my mail.

I have written and complained to the manager of Royal Mail at Midland Road many weeks ago. To date I have not received any form of reply. This demonstrates the Royal Mail's attitude and concern it holds for its customers. J. Skelton

We returned home one Saturday morning a week before Christmas to find the form used by the Royal Mail to alert householders of an incomplete delivery. It asked us to leave it for 24 hours before going to the main depot, which we did. When we got there it was not back yet so we left it until Tuesday, as Monday was a busy day for us.

It was still not there by the Friday and our case was referred to Customer Service, who acted like they were not interested. After about three months we had a phone call from them. Their letters to us had been returned because they were unable to find our house.

Makes you wonder how they manage to deliver 22 million items a day if they can't even deliver their own mail, never mind anybody else's. Ian Hallsworth

Royal Mail unveiled plans to change the cost of sending a parcel to reflect its size rather than its weight. Royal Mail's commercial pricing director Lorna Clarkson said, "Mail prices have been unfair for a long time. Customers expect to pay prices which fairly reflect the costs that postal companies incur."

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