Royal Mail chief Simon Thompson admits to failures | Business

The embattled boss of Royal Mail has been accused by MPs of overseeing a “systemic” and “knowing” policy to avoid the company’s obligation to deliver letters to every address in Britain six days a week.

Simon Thompson said he did not recognise reports of alleged verbal briefings given by Royal Mail managers to staff telling them to not meet the universal service obligation and instead to prioritise parcels. However, he admitted Royal Mail’s performance was “not good enough”.

During a fiery session in front of the Commons’ business, energy and industrial strategy committee, Thompson . . .

•admitted that tracking data from postal workers’ handheld devices had been used to monitor delivery rounds and in disciplinary cases, despite earlier denials that they had been used