HL Deb 12 March 1969 vol 300 cc459-60

2.40 p.m.

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask her Majesty's Government whether, in view of their statement (Lords Hansard, 11th of February, col. 406) that when mail is delivered by the General Post Office to Havant station, destined for London, the 4d. mail is deliberately sent in the opposite direction to the 5d. mail, they will give instructions that:—

  1. (a) both types of mail, addressed to the same place, will be sent in the same direction and, when possible, at the same time, and
  2. (b) no second-class mail will be subject to deliberate delay and frustration.]

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, I am sorry for any misunderstanding about this. There is no question of 4d. mail destined for London following a different route from that of 5d. mail. The vast majority of 4d. letters posted in Havant are sent direct to most of the principal post office distribution centres in the country. Those for London follow the same route as 5d. letters. But when the number of 4d. letters from Havant for some parts of the country is too small to be despatched direct they are sent to Portsmouth for inclusion in despatches from that office. Second-class letters are not delayed unnecessarily: instructions already provide for these to be dealt with when the first-class letters have taken priority.

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that reply. Do I understand from the reply that when 4d. and 5d. letters are sent to Havant station the 4d. letters do not go in the reverse direction to the 5d. letters, but that they both go up to London together?

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, I said that they both go the same way to London; they do not go via Portsmouth. The only letters that go via Portsmouth are those to Scotland—the reason is quite simple. There are so few 4d. letters from Havant to Scotland, that when they are sent to the Portsmouth post office they are included in the Portsmouth letters for Scotland and go that way.

THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGH

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that this happens to be my own railway station? My letters have in fact been sent to Portsmouth when they have been addressed to London.

LORD BOWLES

My Lords, I am very surprised that the noble Earl has not told me about it before.