Royal Mail escapes fine

Wednesday, 23 March 2005 12:00 AM

Royal Mail has escaped punitive fines but had to pay £60 million in compensation after its worst delivery performance ever, it has been revealed.

The postal service missed all of its 15 performance-related targets for the year ending last March. However, industry regulator Postcomm said that enforcing a fine was not in the interests of customers.

Foremost in Postcomm's decision not to enforce a fine was the fact that Royal Mail had paid £43 million compensation for its failings to its customers.

In addition, the company had also agreed to charge customers £17 million less between 2004 and 2005.

The chairman of the regulator, Nigel Stapleton, said: "With competition fast approaching and the obligation to pay substantial compensation for these quality failures, it is clear Royal Mail has recognised the need to put its customers first."

Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier was pleased by Postcomm's decision to waive possible fines.

"While lessons have been learned and there is still room for improvement, Royal Mail has already transformed the quality of its service," he said.

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