Royal Mail has been hit with a whopping £5.6 million fine for failing to meet its delivery targets, it has been confirmed.
It comes following the completion of an Ofcom enforcement investigation.
The industry regulator was asked to investigate the country’s national postal service after it was referred by the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee – which is a cross-parliamentary committee made up of MPs nationwide – back in March for a suspected breach of the universal service obligation (USO) requiring the company to deliver letters six days a week.
The committee said Royal Mail had “systematically failed” in its duty to deliver letters, and claimed to find the company had prioritised more lucrative parcels instead.
🚨 We have fined Royal Mail £5.6m for failing to meet its 2022/23 delivery targets by a significant and unexplained margin.
Delays caused considerable harm to customers, and we found insufficient steps were taken to prevent this failure.
Royal Mail is required to deliver 93% of first class mail within one working day, and 98.5% of second class items within three working days, while its target for completion of delivery routes is 99.9%.
But following the investigation, Ofcom said that, for the 2022-23 financial year, the postal service’s reported performance results showed that it had only delivered 73.7% of first-class mail on time, and just 90.7% of second-class mail.
On top of this, the investigation found that only 89.35% of delivery routes were completed for each day on which a delivery was required.
Ofcom said today’s fine of £5.6 million should serve as “a wake up call” for the company, and it must “take its responsibilities more seriously”, rather than relying on shifting the blame for its failures on to the aftermath of the pandemic and the several days of strike action by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) several strikes in 2022.
Royal Mail has been fined £5.6m for failing to meet delivery targets / Credit: Royal Mail
Ian Strawhorne, who is the Director of Enforcement of Ofcom, said in a statement today: “Royal Mail’s role in our lives carries huge responsibility and we know from our research that customers value reliability and consistency.
“Clearly, the pandemic had a significant impact on Royal Mail’s operations in previous years. But we warned the company it could no longer use that as an excuse, and it just hasn’t got things back on track since.
“The company’s let consumers down, and today’s fine should act as a wake-up call – it must take its responsibilities more seriously.
“We’ll continue to hold Royal Mail to account to make sure it improves service levels.”
The committee’s inquiry took place amid a turbulent time for the Royal Mail when 112,000 of its staff -who were members of Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) – staged “the biggest strike of the summer” and several other subsequent walk-outs last year in a still-ongoing dispute over pay and the company’s modernisation plans.
The fine has been issued following an Ofcom investigation / Credit: Royal Mail
Addressing the issuing of the fine this morning, a Royal Mail spokesperson described the last year as “uniquely challenging” for the postal service, before going on to cite the strike action as being a reason for quality of service being impacted.
“We are very disappointed with our Quality of Service performance in 2022-23, and acknowledge Ofcom’s decision today,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Last year was uniquely challenging for Royal Mail. Quality of service was materially impacted by the long-running industrial dispute which included 18 days of strike action. We are pleased that Ofcom has acknowledged that elements outside of Royal Mail’s control had a significant impact on service levels and has adjusted the figures to 82% for first class and 95.5% for second class mail.
“We take our commitment to delivering a high level of service seriously and are taking action to introduce measures to restore quality of service to the level our customers expect.”
Featured Image – Royal Mail
News
Tatton Park makes decision to temporarily close gate after visitor is attacked by rutting deer
Emily Sergeant
Tatton Park has made the decision to temporarily close one of its gates after a member of the public following a ‘recent change in deer activity’.
It comes after ‘a couple of injuries’ despite warnings and a large amount of signage across the park.
The decision to close the Knutsford gate had to be taken by Tatton management with input from Cheshire East Council’s health and safety manager, and its director of growth and enterprise, along with ‘expert advice’ from the leading deer vet who works across many deer parks in the UK.
The Knutsford gate will be closed to pedestrians and vehicles ‘until further notice’, but the Dog Wood entrance and the main Rostherne entrance will remain open.
Tatton Park cited a current ‘larger number’ of stags than usual found feeding on fallen acorns near the Knutsford entrance, and an overall ‘recent shift in our deer herd’s behaviour during the rutting season’ as the reason for the gate’s closure in a statement shared to social media this week.
Rutting season – which refers to the autumn deer breeding season, typically from late September to early November in the UK – is when deer herds may exhibit aggression if approached.
“If you come across wild deer whilst visiting, we strongly advise you take an alternative route,” the park said in its statement.
The park’s Operations Team added in a statement, as reported by the MEN: “Despite all warnings, a large amount of signage, staff being on hand to advise people to avoid the deer, and all efforts to try to re-route people and get them to stop approaching the deer, we have unfortunately had a couple of injuries.”
One of the ‘injuries’ referred to was an incident involving 67-year-old man named Rod Savage, who was reportedly hurled up in the air after a large stag suddenly appeared and charged at him with his antlers, puncturing his stomach.
Tatton Park temporarily closes its gate after a visitor is attacked by rutting deer / Credit: Diana Parkhouse (via Unsplash)
The terrifying ordeal happened just 300 yards inside the Knutsford entrance, contributing to the gate’s temporary closure.
Tatton Park has now issued warnings and advice to all future visitors.
People are being told to ‘never walk between the deer’ and ‘never put yourself between deer and a fence’, while always maintaining a safe distance of 50m or more when possible, and ultimately remaining vigilant and fully-aware of your surroundings at all times.
“We’ll be monitoring the situation daily and continue to provide updates,” the park concluded in its statement on social media.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”
Featured Image – Diana Parkhouse (via Unsplash)
News
Shocking new study reveals that almost 100 people a day are caught drink-driving
Emily Sergeant
Nearly 100 drivers a day in Britain have had ‘drink-drive endorsements’ added to their licences in the past three years, a shocking new study has revealed.
Alarmingly, it’s people between the ages of 25 and 39 that are the most frequently penalised for drink-driving – with around 48,000 drivers in this age bracket being handed endorsements, followed closely by 40,000 drivers aged 40 to 65.
In contrast, only 15,000 drivers aged 17 to 24 were penalised, and a mere 3,000 over-65s received points on their licence between 2022 and 2024.
It’s all according to a study by road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, using data obtained from the DVLA via a Freedom of Information request.
A shocking new study has revealed that almost 100 people a day are caught drink-driving / Credit: Pexels
Drivers caught over the alcohol limit face automatic licence revocation, potential imprisonment, and unlimited fines, while the endorsement remains on a driving licence for 11 years.
Another shocking revelation from the study is that fatalities linked to drink-driving have climbed over the past decade, peaking in 2022 at the highest level in 13 years – with the RAC saying this trend ‘raises alarms’ about the effectiveness of current road safety measures.
RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis called it ‘completely unacceptable’.
“These disturbing figures show the twin evils of driving under the influence of drink and drugs are behind a frightening number of lives lost on the UK’s roads every year,” he commented.
A third of Brits want police to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside / Credit – Vladimir Proskurovskiy (via Unsplash)
“A new approach to tackling these repugnant crimes is desperately needed. We hope this will be a key part of the Government’s forthcoming road safety strategy, [as] we’ve consistently been calling for a change in approach when it comes to reducing alcohol-related road deaths, as it’s clear the status quo isn’t working.”
The RAC has been campaigning for courts being given the powers to mandate the fitting of alcohol interlocks (‘alcolocks’) to offenders’ vehicles to prevent them driving drunk again.
It is also ‘supportive’ of the police being given the powers to immediately disqualify any driver who fails a drink or drugs test at the roadside.
Emily Sergeant -
13th November 2023 
