News

Royal Mail has denied newspaper reports that it has lost a significant contract with its second-biggest customer, online retailer Amazon.

Reports were circulating that Amazon had terminated a long-term contract with Royal Mail amid concerns that a planned national strike could severely disrupt parcel deliveries during the pre-Christmas period.

A senior spokesman for Royal Mail says: "As far as I'm aware, there has been  no cancellation of any contract with any of our customers, including Amazon. It's status quo as far as we're concerned."

Amazon too dispelled the rumours by saying it had not terminated any long-term deals with Royal Mail and that it continues to be "one of a number of carriers that we use".

A spokesman for the online retailer adds: "However, with the possibility of strike action in the near future, we have been working on contingency measures with our other carriers to ensure that we can continue to deliver to the high standards that our customers expect from us."

According to the Daily Mail's report, Amazon has opted to use rival service Home Delivery Network (HDN) instead of Royal Mail for parcels weighing more than 500g. HDN chief executive Brian Gaunt says: "We are seeing a  number of our customers preparing to start marketing their deliveries as free of Royal Mail risk."

Royal Mail declined to comment on the situation.

In 2007, Royal Mail was on the verge of losing a smaller £8m contract with Amazon to deliver second-class parcels during the previous national strike, but the carrier managed to rescue the contract after it claimed it had improved its industrial relations.

Another of Royal Mail's big customers is the DVLA, and a spokesman for the agency says: "[The] DVLA is closely monitoring the situation to make sure that it does all it can to minimise disruption to its customers."