By Matthew Beard
Roger Annies, the postman who advised people on his round how to avoid junk mail, attended a disciplinary hearing at the delivery office in Barry, South Wales, yesterday.
Speaking after the hearing, Amarjite Singh, the acting south-east Wales area representative for the Communication Workers Union, said: "He will have to wait seven days now to find out what the outcome will be. The matter is now finished."
Mr Annies, 48, landed in trouble with his bosses after he told people on his round how to avoid junk mail. He thought he was giving a service to customers.
In a leaflet distributed on his round, he informed them: "As you will have certainly already noticed, your postman is not only delivering your mail; he/she also has to deliver some (anonymous) advertising material called door-to-door items.
"For the near future, Royal Mail plans to increase your advertising mail. This will mean a lot more unwanted post in your letterbox. You may be interested in reducing your unwanted advertising mail, and reduce paper usage in order to help save the environment. If you complete the slip below and send it to the Royal Mail delivery office, you should not get any of the above mentioned unwanted advertising."
Royal Mail makes millions from delivering unwanted post. The bosses at his depot suspended the postman, who has two children and has been in the job for 10 years. He is likely to lose his job.
Mr Annies acted after dozens of complaints from householders. Within days of distributing his forms, at least 70 were returned demanding an end to the junk mail deliveries.
He declined to discuss his suspension but a colleague said he was merely responding to complaints. Homeowners called for him to be reinstated. "No one wants this junk mail building up. Roger was just letting us know what Royal Mail should have told us in the first place," said one.
