Yahoo Finance Royal Mail chief warned over claims of ‘disturbing’ delivery failures
The chief executive of Royal Mail has been warned he could be hauled in front of MPs over “disturbing” claims that the postal service is prioritising parcel deliveries over letters.
The Commons business and trade committee has demanded that Martin Seidenberg explain how the struggling company will improve punctuality, amid fresh claims that it is failing to meet its legal obligations.
It is the latest twist in a row between the company and MPs over the delivery of letters following previous clashes earlier this year.
Labour MP Liam Byrne, the committee chairman, said in a letter to Mr Seidenberg: “If the committee remains concerned about Royal Mail’s steps to improve its performance and the answers to the questions contained in this letter are unsatisfactory, the committee retains the right to summon you to provide further oral evidence.”
Under the so-called universal service obligation (USO), Royal Mail is required to deliver letters to any address in the UK, six days a week, for standard prices within a certain time.
But it has repeatedly failed to hit punctuality targets, incurring a £5.6m fine from Ofcom last month.
In a further blow, the company was accused last weekend of telling staff to leave letters behind in sorting offices so that more profitable parcels could be delivered first.
It has left households waiting for important correspondence, including hospital appointment letters, bank cards and bills, among other things.
The allegations, made by The Sunday Times after journalists went undercover at the postal service, contradict repeated assertions by Royal Mail that any such policy exists.
Royal Mail has repeatedly insisted that parcels are not being deprioritised. The company says it sometimes temporarily leaves letters behind during the busy Christmas period so as not to cause huge backlogs of bulky packages at mail offices.
Mr Byrne warned Mr Seidenberg that MPs were “deeply disturbed” by the allegations that “postal workers are still being asked to deliver parcels ahead of letters, despite it being illegal”.
He has also written to Ofcom, the regulator, to demand an update about what measures the watchdog would take to improve performance.
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Royal Mail declined to comment but confirmed it would respond to Mr Byrne’s letter.
He has asked for an answer by Jan 9.
The intervention comes after MPs clashed repeatedly with the company under former boss Simon Thompson, who left in October.
In hearings earlier this year, the committee took the unusual step of recalling Mr Thompson to give evidence a second time after his claim that parcels had not been prioritised was contradicted by staff whistleblowers.
