HC Deb 26 January 1955 vol 536 cc134-5
14. Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenport

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he is aware that letters frequently take up to three days to reach the north Cheshire postal area from London and vice versa; and what steps he proposes to take to improve this service.

The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. David Gammans)

No, Sir; but if my hon. and gallant Friend will let me have details of any particular cases he has in mind, I will gladly look into them.

Lieut-Colonel Bromley-Davenport

Is my hon. Friend aware that I have been sending examples and making complaints since 1945? Is he further aware that before the war letters posted in the Knutsford division were delivered in London the same evening? Is this not a typical example of any industry or service run by a Government Department, the result of which is to give the wretched public worse service at increased cost?

Mr. Gammans

In view of the representations which my hon. and gallant Friend has made, I have had a careful check kept on all the correspondence addressed to him over the past six months. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] In only three cases has a letter been delivered as much as one day late, apart from the Christmas arrangements, and in all those three cases the letters were wrongly addressed.

Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenport

Is my hon. Friend aware that there is at this moment in the post addressed to him an example of a letter which took two days?

Mr. Gammans

While my hon. and gallant Friend is sending these examples, I have no evidence whatever of the original statement made by him in the Question.

Mr. S. Silverman

Under what powers, statutory or otherwise, does the hon. Gentleman keep a continuing check for six months on the correspondence of a Member of Parliament, and to how many hon. Members does the practice apply?

Mr. Gammans

Perhaps the words "continuing check" do not adequately represent what I had in my mind. I meant that the postmaster at Macclesfield has kept a careful check of all letters delivered, so as to enable me to refute, or perhaps agree with, the statement in the Question.