TNT posties take on Royal Mail in London trial

[POSTMAN]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... trial.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Royal Mail is to receive its first direct challenge in postal home deliveries in its 360-year history as rival TNT Post UK draws up plans to target major British cities.

TNT, which today begins its first major UK trial of delivering post in the west London area, is understood to have told business customers it is working on rolling out a home delivery service across the UK.

The plan involves expanding the fledgling delivery service to cover the so-called "last mile" in a clutch of urban areas including Birmingham and Manchester. Beginning later this year, it will be the first direct challenge to the monopoly held by the Royal Mail.

TNT, part of Dutch-owned TNT Express, is the UK's largest private mail delivery firm, handling more than 300m letters and parcels a year for customers including Tesco, Barclays, BT and Sky, as well as public sector clients such as hospital trusts and local authorities.

Until now, it has only been able to focus on bulk delivery and sorting, due to the Royal Mail's monopoly on delivering to family homes.

News of TNT's pending expansion comes amid a massive overhaul of the publicly owned postal group, following the transfer of £28bn of assets from the Royal Mail pension fund to the Treasury, ahead of an expected £4bn stock market float as early as next year.

TNT's assault on the Royal Mail's "last mile" monopoly begins today, in west London, when an army of approximately 400 orange-clad postmen will deliver post to 250,000 households. The TNT posties will work from four delivery offices across the area, with sorting coming from the company's hub in Iver, near Heathrow Airport.

In a further hit to the Royal Mail, the TNT posties will cycle around the area on bespoke bicycles – a mode of transport phased out by former Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier in March 2010 amid health and safety concerns.

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post UK, said the London trial will be a "challenge for us given a mix of demographics and a good mix of property types." It follows a small-scale pilot in Liverpool in 2009, which covered a fraction of the number of households.

Asked to confirm that TNT was working on plans for the London trial to become a permanent one and for other major cities to be added to its network, Mr Wells said: "I can't disclose commercially confidential information but clearly, strategically for us, end-to-end delivery is of huge importance."

He went on to add: "Clearly we don't expect this trial to fail."

[Straight4ward]

Are we allowed to kick lumps out of the f*ckers?

[clashcityrocker]

Are we allowed to kick lumps out of the f*ckers?

Being lazy and slow moving it is unlikely we could get close enough to kick them.....

[Straight4ward]

Trust me!

I'll manage.

[clashcityrocker]

I suppose you could always kick them when they stop to ask you directions..........

[Straight4ward]

Yeah, that'll be often enough.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Trust me!

I'll manage.

[Straight4ward]

frog.gif