Royal Mail at centre of performance fixing allegations

The postal regulator Postcomm has this week revealed that claims by the Royal Mail that nine out of ten letters and parcels are delivered the next day have been thrown into question. It is believed that an investigation by the regulator found alleged systematic fixing of performance figures with allegations that some members of staff were able to identify "test mail" sent from independent companies and ensure these parcels and letters were given preferential treatment.

The regulator alleges this practice may have been ongoing for eight years, something which will embarrass the former management and the UK government. This comes at a time when the UK authorities are looking to offload the Royal Mail operation and indeed had appeared close to bringing in an overseas partner only for the unions to create mayhem in their resistance to this move. The future of Royal mail is now under serious threat as we await official confirmation of the findings of the regulator's investigation which should shed further light on the alleged fixing of performance figures over the last few years.

It will be interesting to see what action the regulator takes if the allegations are proved although it has to be said there is no suggestion this is a company induced policy or indeed the management were aware of the activities of certain members of staff.