LATE postal deliveries will be monitored by York's business community over the next few weeks to see if there has been any real improvement.

This was decided at a civilised, but occasionally tetchy, meeting yesterday at the Mansion House in York when top regional managers from Royal Mail faced a phalanx of the city's business leaders and representatives.

The meeting was called as a result of protests that the Royal Mail's cost-cutting plan to reduce two deliveries to one meant that mail, once received at 8.30am, was now often delivered at lunchtime.

Included in the cross-table discussions were Coun Charles Hall, the Lord Mayor of York, York's MP Hugh Bayley, business organisations like the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and the Yorkshire Federation of Small Businesses and major firms like Norwich Union Life and the Shepherd Building Group.

Adam Sinclair, chairman of the York Chamber of Trade and co-organiser of the get-together, stressed that there was no objection to one delivery per day, so long as it was before 8am. He listed how late deliveries were causing disruption and putting the city's firms at a competitive disadvantage.

He expressed his worry - later echoed by Mr Bayley and Len Cruddas, chief executive of the 750-member Chamber of Commerce - that if these problems were not ironed out, particularly as the new system was being rolled out to the nation, then business would find alternative ways of communicating.

Andrew Lamb, Royal Mail's Yorkshire area regional manager, said the changes were to counter losses of £2 million per day.

He apologised for early teething problems but told sceptical business representatives that major business customers were now getting unchanged motorised vehicle deliveries by 8.30am or 8.45am.

Both sides agreed to meet again - this time at the Leeman Road sorting office in York next month to discuss progress.

Updated: 09:25 Saturday, February 14, 2004