§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what delays have occurred over the last two months in delivering personal mail to the crews of Royal Navy ships stationed in the Gulf. [71185]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThere is no record, in the quality of service checks carried out by the Defence Postal and Courier Service Agency, of any delay in the last two months to personal mails to the crews of Royal Navy ships stationed in the Gulf.
Once received from the Post Office, all personal mail addressed to the crews of Royal Navy ships stationed in the Gulf is dispatched via scheduled commercial aircraft to British Forces Post Offices established at Kuwait and Bahrain and to accredited shipping agents at Dubai.
During the last two months, all mail on hand in the UK for the Gulf area has been dispatched six days a week to Kuwait, five days a week to Bahrain, and three days a week to Dubai. Over the Christmas and New Year holidays there were no mails on hand to dispatch on 25, 26 and 27 December 1998 and on 1 January 1999.
The Defence Postal and Courier Services Agency, which has responsibility for the dispatch of forces' mail worldwide, has a Customer Care Unit that investigates individual inquiries regarding the delivery of mails. During working hours, any inquiry may be made on the Customer Care Helpline, which offers a Freephone service.
I am aware that The Sun newspaper published an article on this matter on 12 February, and I would like to clarify the position. HMS Cumberland arrived in Durban, South Africa on 21 December and sailed on 7 January 1999. All Christmas mail was dispatched to the Ship in Durban safely and on time. HMS Cumberland then docked in Mombasa on 16 January and sailed on 22 January 1999. Unfortunately 15 bags of mail, dispatched to the Ship via Nairobi failed to arrive before she sailed from Mombasa, due to security problems in Nairobi and transport problems between Nairobi and Mombasa. The mail caught up with the ship in Bahrain when she docked there on 1 February.
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