Half of Royal Mail’s collection offices open for two hours a day

Howard Gosling, 78, who runs a business providing pool and spa hygiene advice, said that the final collection time at his nearest post box in Nether Compton, Dorset, was changed to 10am this spring.

He told The Telegraph: “We used to have a collection at 5.30pm, then it became 5.15pm then it became 5pm and then it became 10am in spring this year. In other words, the afternoon collection of mail in wide swathes of the countryside has been abolished.

“If I want to send a letter I have to drive a six-mile round trip to the local town centre collecting box.” 

Mr Gosling has co-authored a number of books on pool and spa hygiene which he sends out directly to many of his customers.

“You can’t send a book over the internet,” he added. “Royal Mail is making it very difficult to run a business where people need prompt service and responses.”

Last week, The Telegraph revealed that scores of Royal Mail customers trying to swap old stamps bought from the Post Office for their new digital replacements had been told that their purchases were fakes.

‘Keeping pace with customers’ changing behaviour’

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We understand the importance that some customers attach to customer service points (CSPs) as one of a number of ways in which they can access our services.

“An increase in doorstep services, such as Parcel Collect and Safeplace, are helping us to enhance customer convenience and deliver more parcels first time.

“In May this year, we also introduced automatic redelivery of parcels the next working day across the UK for customers who are not at home when posties attempt to deliver the first time.”

They added: “Over 99 per cent of parcels are now successfully delivered to customers on the first or second delivery attempt. This is reducing the need for customers to collect parcels from CSPs.

“To keep pace with the changing behaviour of our customers, we have amended the opening hours of CSPs. We have a range of options free-of-charge for customers who want to arrange for an item to be redelivered.”