Regulator probes post collections

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The mail industry regulator Postcomm is to investigate whether Royal Mail is collecting and delivering letters and parcels at times that suit customers.

There have been complaints that the last collections take place too early and home deliveries are often too late, particularly in rural areas.

A consultation will investigate whether customers' needs were being met.

People will also be asked whether they would be prepared to pay more for better collection and delivery times.

Under Royal Mail's so-called universal service obligation, letters and parcels must be collected at least once a day from every post box and delivered once a day to every home and business.

But in some areas, final collections can take place as early as 9am, long before the mail is actually delivered.

Such a policy makes it impossible for some people to respond to urgent mail by return and Postcomm has received complaints.

The mail regulator fears that those with disabilities or in remote areas are finding it impossible to use the mail for urgent communications, says the BBC's business editor Robert Peston.