Royal Mail was forced to pay out a staggering £115,000 in compensation last year just to South Wales customers, because of lost, late or stolen mail.
Recent figures revealed that in the CF postal area alone, which covers Cardiff and the Valleys, the total pay-outs during 2009-10 rose to £115,495 from £103,000 the previous year. A total of £81,930 was paid out to 4,841 claimants after their mail went missing. The total number of complaints across all categories came to 13,532 – with 7,690 receiving compensation.
Chris Franks, the Plaid Cymru member for South Wales Central, said he was concerned that compensation payouts had risen to more than £250,000 – a significant amount of public money. He said that he was aware of the tremendous commitment of Royal Mail staff – but that the management needed to address the issues which had resulted in the complaints. He also added that compensation was not what people wanted – they simply wanted their mail to arrive.
A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses added that while email had taken over some of the correspondence between businesses, there were still very important documents that had to be sent via mail, for instance time sensitive tender documents for contracts that had to be signed – and that a delay or loss to those could lead to significant problems.
He added that the popularity of online shopping meant that goods had to be sent to customers through the post. He noted that the FSB had not seen a particular increase in delays or losses, but believed that the amounts involved had increased.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said that Welsh postmen and women handled almost nine million items of mail every day, and that across the NP and CF postcode areas, and that only a tiny fraction of the mail they handled resulted in a compensation claim. She said that Royal Mail was focused on providing the ‘best possible customer service’ and apologised to anyone who may have experienced a problem.
