COMPLAINTS about the postal service in our region have fallen for the second successive year while the amount of compensation paid out has been slashed.

Newly-released figures show for 2009/10 there were 7,047 complaints to Royal Mail from the YO postal area, which resulted in £61,732 being paid out. This compares with last year’s figures of 8,976 complaints and compensation totalling £104,699.

Of this year’s complaints total the vast majority – 3,126 – relate to lost items for which the Royal Mail paid out £42,361 in compensation. Of the other complaints, 707 were about delays which resulted in payouts totalling £4,432.

The YO postal area covers all of York, most of North Yorkshire and much of East Yorkshire.

Paul Clays of the Communication Workers’ Union said it was a “good and bad news story”.

He said: “It’s good news that the postmen and women have achieved better targets than they set out to but it’s bad news that this Government thinks privatisation will improve it when we are already improving year after year after year.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We take every customer query and complaint very seriously and do our utmost to resolve them.

“To put the figures in context, Royal Mail handled 18,600 million letters, packets and parcels in 2009/10 and the overall level of complaints fell by almost 10 per cent with the total representing less than one complaint for every 15,000 items of mail we handled.”

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: “The hard-working postmen and women of North Yorkshire deserve praise for their improved performance.

“In the face of rapidly falling mail volumes and a historic pension deficit, urgent action is necessary if Royal Mail’s position is to be stabilised.

York MP Hugh Bayley said: “I congratulate the postmen who sort and deliver the mail and their managers.

“It’s a vital service for us all and fewer complaints help businesses in York.”