Post Office attacked over poor service

The Post Office has come under fierce attack from Westminster council for its "ever-deteriorating" service.

The council said its own post room, the seventh biggest in London, has to cope with an average of 1,000 wrongly delivered items and 180 damaged packages each month.

Council leader Simon Milton said the service was "unacceptable" and the worst he had known in 17 years. He said a council survey revealed 20 per cent of packages arrived damaged or late.

The criticisms came as Westminster launched a campaign against post office closures in north Westminster-and parts of Kensington and Chelsea. The Royal Mail plans to close six out of 16 post offices in the area, including the large Westbourne Grove branch.

Councillor Melvyn Caplan, who represents Maida Vale, said: "These figures don't come as a surprise. I have been contacted by over 300 residents over the past few months, expressing concern about the threat of closures and a decline in standards."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We take all customers' concerns seriously.

"We are, however, surprised at the comments from Westminster council given that the council's mailroom manager told Royal Mail this month 'services overall have improved recently following a bad patch'.

"We deliver 99.92 per cent of the mail safely at the correct address, probably the best performance in the postal world."

The Royal Mail is this week expected to reveal how its performance crashed in the spring when it introduced a single delivery system to save money.