BILLY Bunter always used to have a postal order awaiting delivery. Credit controllers are all too familiar with the expression "the cheque's in the post".

But disturbing evidence has come to light showing that such excuses are far more credible as the Royal Mail has descended into chaos, delivering a third rate service. It's not just our view - the Royal Mail itself admits that it has met not one of 15 performance targets it set itself.

The first delivery, relatively early in the morning, has effectively been abolished - although the Royal Mail will tell you that it is the second delivery which has been scrapped, the first delivery is still there - it just comes a few hours later.

It is hard to square the efficient, pleasant and hard-working attitude of the local postmen we know with the appalling attitudes and incompetence revealed on last night's television programme Dispatches, in which a reporter went undercover at a London sorting office to expose laziness and bogus overtime payments.

The postal trade union, the Communication Workers Union has called for high level talks to salvage public confidence in the mail service but their hopes of blocking changes seem remote - the Government has already strongly backed Royal Mail's unpopular decision to scrap morning deliveries.

Clearly the union has to look to some of its members and accept that either long-established working practices or jobs must go.

As for the management, they have either to start delivering, figuratively and literally. If they do not then the UK's mail delivery service will have to be open to the chill winds of privatisation. They could start with a self-imposed pay to reward their feeble performance.