Ex-Ofcom chief joins postal battle

Ex-Ofcom chief joins postal battleRoyal Mail is rolling out the big guns in its bid to get Ofcom to investigate TNT’s final mile deliveries by drafting in former Government advisor and Ofcom director Richard Hooper to lead the fight.
Hooper chaired the independent review of the UK postal sector which reported to successive UK governments in 2008 and 2010, that ultimately led to Royal Mail’s sell-off last October.
Now he has been tasked by Royal Mail to lobby the regulator to bring forward a 2015 review of the activities of TNT Post UK, amid accusations that its expansion of deliveries is threatening the future of the Universal Service.
Royal Mail has been vigorously lobbying to have TNT Post UK investigated but so far Ofcom has said it sees no evidence that Royal Mail’s services are being threatened – despite Royal Mail’s claim that TNT could cost its rival £200m in lost revenues.
Hooper, who is also a former Ofcom deputy chairman, is currently senior independent director of Vocalink, the agency that runs the UK’s national payments infrastructure.
Commenting on his appointment as Royal Mail’s advisor, he said the Universal Service was a “cherished public good” that was of importance to all UK consumers and businesses.
“I look forward to working with Royal Mail to encourage Ofcom to bring forward its review as soon as possible so that the threat to the universal postal service can be independently assessed and solutions found where necessary,” he said.
“When I carried out my independent review of the postal services sector for Secretary of State Peter Mandelson in the last Labour Government and for Secretary of State Vince Cable in the present Coalition Government, the risk posed by cherry picking was one issue on which both Houses of Parliament and all sides of the political divide agreed.”

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1 Comment on "Ex-Ofcom chief joins postal battle"

  1. Ex-Ofcom chief joins Royal Mail fight against TNT deliveries http://t.co/BbbRe0aKO1 #directmail #directmarketing

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