Royal Mail urged to halt counterfeit stamp fines

Senior MPS fear innocent people are forced to pay £5 penalty as China floods UK with convincing fakes

ROYAL MAIL has been told to suspend counterfeit stamp penalties amid fears innocent customers are wrongly being charged £5.

Senior MPS have called on the postal service to stop the “unfair fines” while it investigates issues with new barcoded stamps that has seen a spate of customers claim that they have been wrongly surcharged.

Last week, an investigation by The Telegraph found China was flooding Britain with counterfeit stamps with suppliers offering to produce up to one million fake Royal Mail stamps a week – and deliver them to Britain within days.

A senior executive said the convincing Chinese forgeries were making it harder for Royal Mail’s revenue protection team to spot the difference between genuine and fraudulent stamps.

The source said that they knew of only a “handful” of cases where members of the public have been incorrectly surcharged as machines are not always able to scan new barcodes correctly. Royal Mail has previously always maintained its processes were “secure”.

The Liberal Democrats said that it was “ridiculous” customers were being caught up in Royal Mail’s “mess”. Sarah Olney, the party’s treasury spokesman, called on the Government to launch an investigation and said that “no fine should be handed out until ministers have got to the bottom of this”.

She also reiterated calls for the Chinese Embassy to be brought before ministers as part of an investigation.

She said: “The Government should stamp out these unfair fines. Ministers need to launch an investigation into this, including questioning the Chinese Embassy.

“During that time, it is ridiculous to be penalising innocent people who are being caught up in this mess. No fines should be handed out until ministers have got to the bottom of this. Yet again the Government is missing in action and far too slow to act.”

Labour called for an “urgent investigation” to protect British consumers who are being “defrauded”.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said: “This is incredibly worrying for British consumers and small businesses who are being defrauded. The Government must urgently investigate the scale of this forgery and work with Royal Mail, the police and the regulator to clamp down on this criminality.”

Paul Scully, the former Post Office minister, also called for the fines to be suspended while Royal Mail investigates the issue.

Mr Scully said: “The end user is the one getting the fine, whereas it’s another person who is actually responsible. That doesn’t sound right and it doesn’t sound fair.”

Royal Mail believes the forgeries are being sold online as well as unwittingly by small retailers that, under legislation that was introduced in 1989, are not required to buy stamps directly from Royal Mail.

‘It is ridiculous to be penalising innocent people who are being caught up in this mess’