Postmen to get mini cameras – to prove they HAVE delivered

POSTMEN are to be equipped with miniature cameras so they can prove they have safely delivered packages.

Royal Mail is beginning a trial of the devices, which are installed in the hand-held computers carried by postal workers on their rounds.

If there is no one in when they call – and the householder has made no arrangement for mail to be left with a neighbour – postmen will be able to take a picture of the package in a designated ‘safe place’ such as the porch or behind a rubbish bin. The image can then be emailed to the customer on request.

If the trial is a success, postal workers – like parking attendants and police officers – could routinely carry cameras. It also raises the possibility of Royal Mail using photographic evidence to counter compensation claims from customers who say parcels have not been delivered. The move has not been officially announced, but was revealed by a senior manager responding to a letter in the company’s staff newspaper.

Graham Devlin, Royal Mail’s outdoor design manager, wrote: ‘Our new PDAs (Postal Digital Assistant) will have a camera facility built in. These will be used for things like proof of delivery and for security.

‘For example, if a customer requests proof that you’ve delivered their item to their designated Safe Place, you will have the ability to take a picture of the item in that location.’

Courier companies regularly use cameras to record deliveries, but this will be a first for Royal Mail, which was privatised by the Coalition in 2013.

Three years ago, watchdog Consumer Focus said there were ‘particular concerns’ around postmen leaving ‘Sorry, you were out’ cards instead of making a proper attempt to deliver items that could not be posted through a letter box.

Courier companies have also come under fire after a series of embarrassing blunders. Last week, parcel firm Yodel had to apologise after a driver making a delivery was seen flinging a package on to the roof of a house in Birmingham.

Yodel said the ‘overly enthusiastic’ employee had misjudged his throw as he aimed for an open upstairs window when no one came to the door. The driver returned with a ladder to retrieve the package.

Royal Mail has purchased thousands of new cameraequipped Zebra TC75 hand-held computers for postmen, which retail for about £1,300.

A spokesman said use of the cameras was not an official plan and no date had been set for their introduction, adding: ‘The camera facility might potentially be utilised where a customer requests proof of delivery to a designated Safe Place.’

Customers can nominate a safe place for post to be left when they are out by completing a form at a sorting office.