'The second post? It never existed'

BAD news for millions of home owners who wait patiently each day for their second post. It doesn't exist. It now seems that anyone who thought that letters dropping through the letterbox about 2pm formed part of the Royal Mail's second delivery service have been deluding themselves.

Who says? The Royal Mail's new boss, 40-year-old former Avon lady, Gillian Wilmot. According to her, the second post is a 'myth'. Those late-arriving letters are part of the Royal Mail's 'sweeper service'.

Wilmot, under fire last week for her reorganisation of Royal Mail, told Financial Mail: 'There is no such thing as a second delivery. What we have is a sweeper service that picks up the mail we should have delivered first time round. There is a myth about postal deliveries. There was never a time when the Post Office delivered mail four or five times a day. I know - I have just read the history of the service since 1635.'

Wilmot admits that the much-criticised service is not up to scratch. She acknowledged that what customers really want is an early and reliable delivery service. 'I am not prepared to say that our service is a shambles, but yes we have missed our targets,' she said.

The Government has set Consignia a target of delivering 92.1% of first-class mail the following morning. Official figures in September showed that 86.5% of first-class mail met the deadline, but in some areas it was as low as 75%.

However, a recent Daily Mail survey of 2,000 letters found that only 69% of first-class mail arrived the following day, while 86.4% of second-class items arrived on time.

In an attempt to improve the service, Royal Mail is considering ambitious plans to put hundreds of thousands of private letter boxes at commuting stations and London Tube stations. Mail would be delivered at these boxes early in the morning, enabling commuters to pick up their post on the way to work. The service would be free.

Wilmot, who is considering scrapping the second delivery - or sweeper service - told Financial Mail: 'These days, most working people leave home before the post arrives, especially in rural areas. We want to provide customers with what they want and if they want to pick up their mail on the way to the station as they pass a local post office, we will arrange it. Alternatively, if they want to pick it up at a station, we would provide a letter box and a key and they could open up the box and read their letters on the way to work.'

Royal Mail, which is part of Consignia, the new name for the Post Office, will this week decide which areas will take part in a pilot study for the new service.

Wilmot said: 'The first step would obviously be to place the mail boxes in properties that we own. Most people on their way to work pass one of our properties. Then we plan to have talks with the owners of railway stations and the Underground. The key thing is that we want to give customers what they want, and we have spent a great deal of time finding that out.'

Wilmot lives with her husband Nicholas, a doctor, and two young sons in Lockington, Leicestershire, but also spends time in a flat near her central London office. Not surprisingly, the post to both locations is delivered on time six days a week.

On the day of her interview with Financial Mail, Wilmot could guarantee a reliable service in her village because she got on her bike and helped deliver the letters herself. 'In every job I do, I insist on being able to do the work I am asking our people to do. When I was vice-president of Avon Cosmetics, I was not too proud to be an Avon lady for the odd day.

'I have already delivered the mail three or four times since I started this job last year. Today, I was up with postman Paul Sparhan at 4am and at 4.30 we were on our bikes delivering to about 200 homes.'