We Expose Royal Mail Security Shambles

Oct 28 2007 By David Taylor

DISASTROUS security lapses at the heart of the Royal Mail are revealed in a shock Sunday Mail investigation.

Our reporter was given work inside Scotland’s biggest sorting office after saying he was agency staff. No one asked him for ID.

Click here to watch the incredible undercover video taken at the sorting office.

Incredibly, he spent an hour-and-a-half handling thousands of letters and parcels – some with credit cards, sensitive NHS papers and voter registration documents.

No one asked him for ID, no one vetted him, no one asked if he had any experience – and his health and safety training lasted seven seconds.

Communications Workers Union boss John Brown said the breach showed the Royal Mail had "lost the plot" after the postal strikes.

We tested out the Mail Centre at Springburn, Glasgow, after one whistleblower claimed security was so lax that anyone could walk in unchallenged.

He said the depot was in chaos after taking on 50 casuals to deal with a backlog of 150,000 letters.

Wearing a hidden camera, our man arrived at the depot security gates at 6.54am on Friday. The only thing he was asked for was his name.

We then walked up to the door of the depot and after pressing the buzzer was welcomed in – again unchallenged.

For his health and safety briefing, he was shown where the fire door was and told: "Be careful you don’t get trampled by me on your way out if there is a fire."

And he was handed a Royal Mail high-visibility vest and told by his supervisor: "Stand there and look like you know what you’re doing."

Within minutes, he was set to work sorting mail in the huge building.

In envelopes, he could feel what were unmistakably credit or bank cards.

His next task was to empty large industrial metal crates filled with 25 bags on to work stations.

He finally left after 90 minutes – and no one asked where he was going.

Union chief Brown said: "Everything the management touch turns to mud. They have lost the plot.

"We are seriously concerned for the safety of members, given the threat from terrorism.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if you could do the same in units across the country."

Watchdogs Postwatch said: "We’re very surprised and disappointed because we have been assured that postal staff are always vetted.

"It’s appalling – there could have been credit cards and cheque books stolen."

Two 48-hour strikes this month have cost the Royal Mail £250million.

The company said last night: "All our people are supposed to be vetted by the agencies we use and we will be having an investigation to see how this happened.

"Our security is normally very robust but during this period of industrial action, everyone has been focused on delivering our backlog, which we have now done. There will be an investigation because security is of the utmost importance to us."

They said all new employees were vetted for criminal records through Disclosure Scotland – and the standard used was similar to that for police.

They added: "Agency staff are vetted by the agencies on our behalf following our criteria."

The main companies who supply workers are Manpower UK and Reed recruitment.