§ 10. Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Postmaster-General if he is satisfied that daily postal deliveries in the London area are completed by the time laid down by his Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MawbyI very much regret that in some parts of London the first letter delivery runs beyond the scheduled finishing time of 9.0 a.m. because of shortage of postmen and staffing difficulties. We are doing our best to overcome these.
§ Mr. SmithYes, but is my hon. Friend aware that many of the main deliveries in the London area take place well after 9 a.m. when the majority of people have gone to work? Does he not think that it would make for much more efficient service if one delivery were cut out and we had only one and this was completed by or before breakfast time?
§ Mr. MawbyThe main difficulty is that we cannot start the first delivery earlier because night trains have not then arrived at the main termini. The first delivery is governed by the arrival of trains from different parts of the country carrying the mail which must be sorted and then delivered. This is our major problem.