Royal Mail has suspended fines on letters containing so-called counterfeit stamps amid widespread confusion over whether its internal systems are at fault, The Telegraph can disclose.
In a victory for this newspaper, the postal service has reversed its decision to surcharge recipients as it investigates issues with its new barcoded stamps.
The change, which comes into force today, is expected to be in place until the end of July but insiders believe it could be extended further.
Letters containing stamps deemed counterfeit will instead be returned to sender or delivered with a yellow sticker informing them the stamp is fake. Under the change, recipients, which have until now been charged the fines, will not be charged.
The company also announced it is developing a new counterfeit stamp scanner in the Royal Mail app to allow customers to scan stamp barcodes and check whether it is a recognised counterfeit.
Royal Mail has faced huge criticism in recent months after a switch to a new barcoded stamps system last July led to a spate of customers being issued with stamp fines.
The postal service then doubled the penalty from £2.50 to £5 in October, despite customers claiming that the stamps had been purchased from Post Office counters and the Royal Mail website.
Royal Mail has so far resisted calls for a formal investigation. The firm, which is regulated by Ofcom, said its processes for detecting fake stamps “are secure” and that all stamps marked counterfeit are verified by a member of staff. Despite this claim, a senior executive admitted to The Telegraph that its machines were not always able to scan new barcodes correctly.
They said machines used to scan barcodes were “overly sensitive” and were wrongly flagging genuine stamps as being potentially fraudulent.
Barcoded stamps were introduced to improve security, in a move which Royal Mail said would save “tens of millions” of pounds each year.
The Telegraph previously revealed Chinese factories are offering to print up to one million counterfeit Royal Mail stamps a week for as little as 4p each in what experts described as an ‘act of economic warfare’.
Whistleblowers in delivery offices have also painted a picture of chaos and confusion.
Staff admitted they routinely sent back letters with so-called counterfeit stamps to regional mail centres for review believing Revenue Protection – the department responsible for inspecting letters and distributing fines – were making “a lot of mistakes”.
Others said they were turning to Google to identify counterfeit stamps due to a lack of training and would often not charge customers because they didn’t trust the decision made by the Revenue Protection team.
In an internal memo sent last week, Royal Mail has told staff to now attach an advisory label rather than issuing a £5 surcharge.
The yellow sticker reads: “This item has been identified as bearing a counterfeit stamp. You may wish to advise the sender. A surcharge has not been applied on this occasion.”
However, if a letter does include the return address, the letter will be returned and the sender will be charged £5 for using a counterfeit stamp.
While the change will be enforced from April 29, the U-turn is so abrupt Royal Mail has not managed to print the advisory labels yet.
Staff have been told to apply the label “once in stock and released for delivery”.
They have also been advised the change will be in place for a minimum of three months but this could be extended.
Political pressure has been growing on Royal Mail to suspend the “unfair” fines amid fears innocent victims were being wrongly charged.
The Post Office minister wrote to Royal Mail’s chief executive last Wednesday to stop the fines “until the wider issue is resolved”.
In a letter seen by The Telegraph, Kevin Hollinrake wrote: “You will be aware of concerns being expressed by parliamentary colleagues about the £5 surcharge being applied, where a number of them have claimed that they have bought stamps from legitimate sources, but which have then been identified as counterfeit by your system.
“I recognise that where fake stamps have been used, it is right that the item should be treated as though no postage has been paid, but we urge you to suspend the £5 charge in such circumstances until the wider issue is resolved where there is some uncertainty that requires further investigation, whether for senders’ individual cases or more generally.”
It comes after the Liberal Democrats and Labour both backed calls for penalties to be halted pending a full investigation.
Royal Mail will also introduce a new independent expert to its “highly trained team of specialists” to verify whether a stamp is genuine, as part of an escalation process for customer complaints. The decision will be fully independent of Royal Mail and the judgment binding.
The firm said it will also be increasing its partnerships with retailers and online marketplaces to jointly stop the sale of counterfeit stamps.
Nick Landon, chief commercial officer of Royal Mail, said: “The combination of new barcoded stamps with added security features and Royal Mail actively working with retailers, online marketplaces and law enforcement authorities, has led to a 90pc reduction in counterfeit stamps.
“We want our customers to buy stamps with confidence and always recommend that customers only purchase stamps from Post Offices and other reputable high street retailers, and not to buy stamps online – unless from the official Royal Mail shop.”
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