Postal strike

On the London news last night they featured a story on the post strike and mentioned a 'large south London sorting depot' (Mandela Way maybe?) where they had such a massive backlog of undelivered post it had been suggested that the post might have to be destroyed, which seems a bit drastic and surely not legal. I think I have a birthday present in that lot somewhere...

The postmen are still doing their rounds delivering items for which they seem to get paid extra and don't need sorting such as lovefilm.com and sky and pizza leaflets. They seem to have no problem delivering unaddressed junk to every letterbox.

According to the BBC the union and the Royal Mail (inevitably) disagree on how large the backlog is and how quickly it can be tackled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8245282.stm

It is illegal to delay, tamper-with or destroy mail. However it can de delayed during industrial disputes but must be kept securely and not destroyed or damaged:

Postal Services Act 2000 (c. 26, Part V, Section 8) wrote:

Interfering with the mail: postal operators
(1) A person who is engaged in the business of a postal operator commits an offence if, contrary to his duty and without reasonable excuse, he—

(a) intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or

(b) intentionally opens a mail-bag.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the delaying or opening of a postal packet or the opening of a mail-bag under the authority of—

(a) this Act or any other enactment (including, in particular, in pursuance of a warrant issued under any other enactment), or

(b) any directly applicable Community provision.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to the delaying or opening of a postal packet in accordance with any terms and conditions applicable to its transmission by post.

(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to the delaying of a postal packet as a result of industrial action in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute.

(5) In subsection (4) “trade dispute” has the meaning given by section 244 of the [1992 c. 52.] Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 or Article 127 of the [S.I. 1995/1980 (N.I.12).] Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995; and the reference to industrial action shall be construed in accordance with that Act or (as the case may be) that Order.

(6) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both,

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

Hmm ... maybe that explains why I have yet to receive my Time Out delivery from last week. Now on tenterhooks to see whether this week's copy arrives.

In amongst all the post I'm not receiving...I've been waiting on my latest DVDs from Love Film for over a week.

I did however, get a notice through the mail that I have an item requiring collection that has �10 of unpaid postage...so it appears that the revenue arm is conveniently still operating with efficiency while I receive no other post...

I have suffered in the past as I have a constant stream of parking fines and parking appeals in the post. Local authorities do not seem to take into account that the notices to owners, nor appeals can expire before they are delivered. There, I feel much better now.

I have two weeks economist's outstanding, I'm happy to go down to mandela way to have a look in the back. The staff in the collections office were having a rough time whenever I've been in, which has been a lot recently...and where is my new bike lock...grrr!!

I just realised where one of my eBay parcels must have gone, as the buyer just contacted me he had not yet received it... sent just a day after the strike.

Zoe wrote:

I have two weeks economist's outstanding, I'm happy to go down to mandela way to have a look in the back. The staff in the collections office were having a rough time whenever I've been in, which has been a lot recently...and where is my new bike lock...grrr!!

You're doing better than me there - I have 4 weeks undelivered so far and counting. Bet you they might all arrive in one go which kind of defeats the object of having a weekly newspaper.... In any case, The Economist has taken the steps of getting the issues hand delivered which can't be cheap, but is hopefully going to be reliable!

So I'll get my economist after all? Yaaayyy! I wonder if their office is far, we could have a joint SE1 drop off for us news junkies.