Royal Mail’s boss has apologised for the late delivery of letters and said it was battling competitor companies absorbing only half the costs the UK postal service was facing.

Daniel Křetínský was grilled by MPs on the business and trade committee about the dismal service Royal Mail was providing and asked if he would apologise to the country for the decline in its service.

The Czech billionaire, who bought Royal Mail’s parent company last year for £3.6bn, said: “Of course I am deeply sorry for any letter that arrives late and deeply sorry if we are not delivering letters on our promise, but at the same time I can’t adhere to your sentence that the quality of service has declined because the numbers just don’t evidence that at all.

“Our quality of service, unfortunately, is reliably consistent over the last three years.”

Křetínský said the company was doing a difficult job that no other European country was undertaking: “The first class service is really the most difficult service for any postal company in the world.

“To be clear, in Europe there is only one country out of the big markets which continues to provide a first class service as a universal service obligation and this is the UK. All other countries have abandoned that service.”

By way of illustration, he added: “If you send a letter from Brighton to the Scottish Highlands you need to get it there for £1.80 the next day.”

The Royal Mail boss also hit back at its competitors and said there was “a complete absence of a level playing field” in the sector: “We are employing people,” he said.

“Our competition is using contractor drivers, or owner drivers. The cost to the employer, if you compare the old terms and conditions with the cost of our competitor couriers, is double.

“So the cost to us is double.”

Asked why he bought the company given its inherent difficulties, Křetínský said he believed Royal Mail had a future: “I am really here driven by the challenge, not by profit,” he added.

“But I know that if we do things right we will also create value at the end of the day.”

Earlier the select committee heard evidence from communication workers union boss Dave Ward, who described the postal service as “chaotic”.

He said: “For workers, it’s a demanding environment because all they want to do is come into work, be able to do what they always used to do, which is deliver for the customers, and now they come into work and they know pretty much on a daily basis that it’s extremely difficult to get through all of the work loads.”

Recent research by Citizens Advice found Royal Mail failed to deliver post on time to an estimated 16 million people over Christmas.