Postcomm today revealed that it recommended that UK Mail, a courier company, could be charged as little as 11.5p or as much as 拢4.06 for Royal Mail's last-mile service.
The charge is for Royal Mail to sort and deliver UK Mail items to their final destination by postmen and women, along with the Royal Mail's own deliveries.
Leighton said the charges were worse than he had feared. "We were alarmed at the way Postcomm was moving last autumn to an access price of 14p for Royal Mail against a full price for First and Second Class stamp basic postage of 28p and 20p."
"Postcomm's plans today propose an access price of just 11.5p, so the regulator has moved the access price even lower than we feared," he said.
Leighton said Royal Mail was prepared to give other firms access to its network, but at a "fair and realistic" commercial price.
"If Postcomm's plans amount to a green light for rival firms to cream-skim profitable mail and leave Royal Mail without the means to provide the universal service, then we will not hesitate to fight the regulator's plans in the High Court and, if necessary, the European Court," he said.
However, Postcomm defended the move in a statement, saying it would allow Royal Mail to recover a 6% operating profit from this business by 2006.
Postcomm chairman Graham Corbett called the move a "crucially important step in the opening up of the postal network" and that it supports the universal service.
"We are aware that Royal Mail is sensitive to loss of volumes but if the price is pitched too high that would not only deter the development of effective competition, but in due course drive competitors to set up alternative delivery networks, leading to a much riskier market for Royal Mail and everyone else," Corbett said.
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