The town council this week accused the Royal Mail of putting the success of this year's Town Festival in jeopardy by failing to deliver many of its events programmes.

Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council employed Royal Mail to deliver 16,500 festival booklets to every household in Borehamwood, Elstree and Shenley last month.

They were all meant to have been delivered between May 27 and June 1, but research by the council suggests that the majority of the booklets had not been received.

Consignia, the Royal Mail company, this week claimed that the programmes had been delivered, but agreed to discuss with the council any concerns that it may have. But Councillor Eileen Stanley said: "The programmes were supposed to go out at that time because that gives people time to look at it and book tickets for what they want.

"This really is a horror story we rely on this programme to let people know what is going on during the festival."

The council's entertainments officer, Paul Welsh, who co-ordinates the festival, said that ticket sales were down by around one third, compared to previous years.

With the first event of the two-week festival, the Festival Parade, on Saturday, June 22, he was worried that many people would not find out about the scheduled events in time.

"We should be experiencing ticket sales and reactions from the public to the programme, which we are not to any great degree," said Mr Welsh.

The council is currently printing up posters to place around the town and ordering newspaper adverts, to try and inform people of the events taking place.

Last year the town council experienced a similar problem, when Royal Mail failed to deliver some of the programmes, and it was awarded a discount.

A Consignia spokesperson said: "The mailshot due for delivery between the 27 May and 1 June was delivered to schedule following the council's requirements."

Complaints were made about the efficiency of Royal Mail's delivery service in Borehamwood last week, with accusations that the football World Cup was affecting the schedule.

But the spokesperson said: "Royal Mail customers and their delivery requirements remain a top priority during the World Cup tournament."

June 13, 2002 10:00