Proactive Investors - Royal Mail-owner International Distributions Services PLC (LON:IDSI) has been fined £5.6 million by UK communications regulator Ofcom for late deliveries.
Ofcom said the letters and parcels group failed to meet its first and second-class delivery targets in the 2022/23 financial year, even after adjusting for industrial action, extreme weather and the Stansted runway closure.
In 2022-23, Royal Mail (LON:IDSI) delivered 73.7% of first-class mail on time and 90.7% of second-class.
As a result, Royal Mail had breached its obligations "by a significant and unexplained margin", said the regulator, adding that this caused "considerable harm" to customers and that the company had not taken sufficient action to prevent it.
"Clearly, the pandemic had a significant impact on Royal Mail's operations in previous years," said Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom director of enforcement.
"But we warned the company it could no longer use that as an excuse, and it just hasn't got things back on track since.
"The company's let consumers down, and today's fine should act as a wake-up call - it must take its responsibilities more seriously.
"We'll continue to hold Royal Mail to account to make sure it improves service levels."
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