Bow: The second post was terminated today in Bow, East London, as part of Consingia's shake-up of delivery services.

The area, which falls under the E3 post code, is one of 14 towns around the country taking part in a pilot scheme for Consignia's new single-delivery service, which will eventually be rolled out across the country ending the second post for ever.

The trial will also end guaranteed delivery before nine in the morning for most residential addresses. Only those receiving more than 20 items of mail on average per day will continue to receive early mail free of charge; any other customers wishing to receive their mail early will have to pay a charge of around £14 per week.

Consignia, being rebranded again as the Royal Mail, is carrying out the drastic reduction in its service as part of measures introduced to get the struggling company's accounts out of the red.

Gillian Wilmot, a director at the newly christened Royal Mail, said: "Moving to single deliveries is a vital part of Consignia's plan to turn around the £1.1billion pre-tax loss it announced in June."

"We are balancing the needs for a reliable next-day service with safeguarding an affordable service for everyone."

July 15, 2002 12:00