Inside the Royal Mail crisis that explains why your post is late

Tim Colman has a bone to pick with Royal Mail: letters to and from his HR firm Abacus, based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, have been going astray. “I’ll have no mail for two or even three days,” said Colman, who also runs a procurement consultancy. Frustrated, he went to his local delivery office. “They were very apologetic, but they just said, ‘We haven’t got the staff.’ ”

Colman added: “I don’t send any documentation by Royal Mail any more. I use a courier service as I just can’t trust Royal Mail.”

He is not alone. The service is dogged by reports of post going missing, or taking days, if not weeks, to arrive. Two months ago, MPs accused the company of sacrificing speedy letter deliveries in