Royal Mail fined £7.5m over service

THE Royal Mail is facing a massive £7.5m fine for failing to deliver first class letters on time.

PostComm, the postal regulator, has told the loss-making Royal Mail it will be fined because despite a warning at Christmas that it was not hitting set targets, there is little evidence it has done anything to improve.

The fine, if confirmed after a 28 day appeal process, is believed to be the biggest levied by a regulator of any UK industry.

The PostComm fine relates to first class services in pre-franked business mail and in so-called first class response service when the public replies to printed direct mail.

The Royal Mail has to hit targets of 92.5% of delivery by the next day. Latest figures show it is delivering only 86% of such mail by the next day.

The news comes as a great embarrassment to the Royal Mail and boss Allan Leighton who has just averted the threat of a national postal strike. Under Leighton, the Royal Mail is in the middle of a three-year plan to return to profitability and improve services.