Now from Royal Mail... collect your own post

Thousands of people are being forced to collect their own post.

The Evening Standard has learned that casual staff in many parts of the country are not trusted enough by Royal Mail to deliver parcels and recorded-delivery letters to customers.

Instead, they are being told to drop "Sorry, you were out" notices through letterboxes without ringing the doorbell.

The practice has been brought to light by Royal Mail watchdog Postwatch, which says it is happening in many cities across the country.

In the past year, the regulator has received 150 formal complaints - 40 from London - about post workers failing to ring the bell when customers are at home.

A spokesman for Postwatch said sorting offices should be able to deliver all mail, regardless of whether they rely on casual staff.

He said: "This should not happen and we do not think it is acceptable.

"It causes unnecessary inconvenience to customers, particularly less mobile customers who may not find it easy to get to the sorting office. You also get the problem-where you make the effort to go to pick up your delivery and find it is not something you particularly wanted. That is annoying.

"It is important that all delivery staff are properly trained in how to deal with all recorded-delivery items and packages."

Royal Mail has said that the practice is not official policy, but exists in some places "to ensure the customer receives the best possible service".

In 2003 it had to take on thousands of casual agency staff after it sacked 30,000 of its employees in a cost-cutting programme.

One London householder, 38-year-old classical musician Adrian Bradbury, complained after he received two collection notices when he was at home with his baby daughter.

Mr Bradbury sprinted down the street after the retreating postman, only to find that he did not have the packages with him. The postman explained that he was a casual worker and said the parcels would have to be picked up from the sorting office or delivered by a fulltime worker.

Mr Bradbury's local sorting office at New Cross Gate and Royal Mail customer services both confirmed that casual staff were not allowed to de l iver parcels or recorded-delivery letters.

More than three weeks later, Mr Bradbury has still not had a chance to pick up the post. He said: "I am so busy looking after the baby. The parcels are probably resents for her."

Melanie Corfield, head of external relations at Royal Mail, said New Cross Gate's decision to deliver notices without parcels was wrong.

She said: "They should not have been doing that and we have corrected it."