I'm a postie, it is 100% true that we were told/asked that we DO prioritise tracked and large parcels,if I'm a whistle-blower then I'm a whistle-blower!! The workforce is NOT behind Simon Thompson..... We will vote to strike again!!!!

Darren Jones is such a great MP, every time he is on a select committee he does a good job. Authoritative, intelligent questioning and doesn't let them get away with giving half arsed answers. Labour really should get him in front of the public more often because he's impressive.

At last! An MP with some integrity and real skill

What a disgrace of a royal mail CEO 🤮🤮🤮

Darren Jones is an outstanding MP, we need far more like him.

Excellent questioning. That MP is good. Wish more were like him.

This shows what a slimy barsteward that CEO is!! No wonder the Posties are striking with him in charge!!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more devious and evasive person in a long time

What a terrific job Darren Jones does at these Committees. Always holding people in power to account, clearly does his homework, polite but tough.

“The brand, the business” anyone remember when it was a service?

As an ex Postie of 23 years, it breaks my heart watching the destruction of this once great institution. This MP absolutely wiped the floor with this CEO, made him appear absolutely useless. I thought Crozier was bad in my day but god help RM with idiots like this at the helm. Keep going posties, the country is on your side.

Seeing a CEO on the hot seat truly brings joy to my heart. I can only imagine the cheers of the postal workers when they watched this.

My brother works in Manchester for Royal Mail, he's covered 6 offices and he's said it's an absolute disaster. Thousands of letters are undelivered daily( hospital appointments etc),and that's company policy , trust me. Over half of all letters are left in daily, and this is to maximize shareholder profits at the expense of customers. The staff are told to only deliver Tracked 24, Tracked 48 and special delivery and leave letters, or maybe take out a quarter of the walk and leave 3/4 of the letters in. And why? Because letters are untrackable, so there's no evidence that letters are being left in for a week, or sometimes longer. Postman are having weeks off in Manchester and coming back in to 35-40 trays of mail( they usually get about 5 a day), because their mail has not gone out for the whole week. That's fantastic for profits, because not only have they saved paying a weeks wage, the poor postman is then told to deliver a weeks worth of mail and book 1 hour overtime. This is Simon Thompson's policy because the managers at Manchester said so after a zoom call with him. Offices are 20 + staff down, so that's 20+ wages saved( great for share holders)but the mail doesn't get delivered. I've got pictures which I'll share, if people need to see. It's horrendous and makes you wonder why you even bother buying a stamp for this non service. Some of the pictures I've got, look like no mails gone at all. Then they'll take a postman off their duty and put them on a delivery that's not been delivered for 4 or 5 days. Postman have then got to carry 4 or sometimes 5 days of mail in one day, all while being monitored on their PDA. It's modern day slavery, and Simon Thompson needs to be exposed.

As a postie: - We are tracked by PDAs, including stops as little as 3mins (a quick water break in the van) - If its too busy I am told to take tracked and parcels and leave mail - Our rounds are too big to complete each day unless its very light - They are making these rounds even bigger, despite knowing they are not realistic due to the PDA data! - Unless your item is a special or tracked (basically if the customer can check its status), they do not care!

Every time I watch Darren Jones, I'm blown away by him. His questions are direct and to the point and he doesn't let these people worm their way out of answering. Get him on the front bench ASAP.

If he’s the best CEO the Royal Mail could find, it’s no wonder the Royal Mail is going down the tubes!

Neo Liberal economics in a nutshell. Maximum shareholders profits. Minimum everything else.

Watching Darren Jones hold these squirmy shysters to account is a breath of fresh air.

Further to this, I work in a mail center on a CSS machine (put the letters in and it spits them out in delivery route order). There is a thing called “deferred mail” which means 2nd and 3rd class mail will be withheld from delivery until there is another letter going to the same address. This means the machine spits out hospital appointments, birthday cards, personal letters etc. which are then held in the mail center for up to a maximum of three days. So, it could be five days before a 2nd class birthday card or appointment letter actually even reaches the delivery office… and then it could be left in the delivery frame for even more days as the postie has to prioritise tracked items. It’s scandalous. I fish out the birthday cards and appointment letters when I see them (after they’ve been set aside by the machine) and send them to the delivery office anyway.

Brilliant MP doing his job. That CEO is clearly out of his depth.

Darren is just the most superb MP - his work rate and availability for his constituents is just amazing ! I have followed him for many years ( even though he is not my MP ) as he explains complex situations so that his constituents can understand the detail. He really is the most outstanding Labour MP and I hope that he will soon hold a Senior post in the shadow cabinet. His questioning and the way he utterly destroys this excuse for the CEO of the Royal Mail is just off the scale ! We need an army of Darren's to expose these charlatans .......

I absolutely LOVE this guy he doesn't allow them to not answering the questions. Well Done Darren Jones Well Done 👏

As a member of a different political party Darren Jones blows my mind. If I were in his constituency I'd vote for him - he's got a forensic mind, he's fully briefed, he's polite and he always gets the point across. I can't understand why he isn't on Labour's front bench.

Bloody hell, a competent MP? What's going on? I want this guy to be my MP

CEO's like this are just husks of human beings. Empty shells that only feel full when they're grifting. Darren Jones did really well. We need more MP's like him - informed, intelligent and cognisant of the issues

So he wiped the floor with him and made it obvious what sort of odious man this is. But will there be any consequences?

EXCELLENT for making these people ANSWER the questions they are asked, instead of always diverting the conversation so as to AVOID answering the questions asked!

Bloody Hell! Why have we not seen more of Darren Jones?

This guy needs bodyguards when visiting Royal Mail premises because he is hated by the staff

well done Darren.............. its a bit like pulling teeth ...this weasel really didn't want to talk to you did he...but you got there......I applaud you.

Love this MP if all politicians conducted themselves like him think how amazing things would actually be

I’m a postie - and I can confirm that it’s totally true about prioritising parcels - mail is failed everyday!

This guy has such a knack of acting like he doesn't already know the answer to the question he's asking, whilst simultaneously making it abundantly clear that he adsolutely does already know the answer to the question he's asking

I worked for Royal Mail for 5 years, the Management are a joke at every level! Pushing parcels over letters, Hiring a Tesco store manager instead of promoting those within the company who KNEW how the office operates and the needs of the staff. This Tesco Store Manager had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to run a PROCESS, making decisions such as changing the layout of the letter sort frames (which was at the time set up by a months long process run by staff and geared to reduce twisting, stretching and keep high traffic post codes in the centre of the frame increasing sorting speed in the process). This PILLOCK from Tesco's decided to change this layout less than 5 weeks before the Xmas rush, Why? To make it easier for the Temp Staff to learn the frame, also removed the sorting boards which listed every box and postcodes alphabectically, and utterly refused to acknowledge that the biggest training resource was the permanent staff and the board he chose to remove. We pointed ALL of this out and also the fact that by changing the frame at that time he removed the biggest training asset as WE wouldn't have enough time to become instinctive in our understanding of the frame and therefore COULDN'T help the temp staff learn the frame. Roll on the XMas rush and he ends up SCREAMING at US about sort rates PLUMMETING and "The main sort Depot was sorting 2-3 times faster than the Overspill Depot!" Our response "Yeah because some dipshit asshole changed the frame layout right before Xmas whilst the Main Depot is STILL using the frame layout WE set up over a year ago, so DON'T go screaming at us when it was YOU who insisted we knew bugger all about what we do and the best way to do it!" Same person would break Royal Mail rules regarding handling of mailbags like cutting cable ties and throwing them on the floor, creating piles of bags on the floor in the work area, both of which created massive trip and slip risks and blocked our access to poarcel and letter Yorks forcing us to throw parcels/letter bundles about rather than place them into the Yorks. Royal Mail DEMANDS an increase in throughput for ANY wage increase when the dedicated and hard working staff are ALREADY working at full tilt, their actions have forced MANY of the best staff to leave the company entirely, forced a policy of denial to ANY workplace injuries and attempts to cover them up by placing people suffering due to them "up for dismissal" when their pain and suffering causes them to be off work as a result of their piss poor attitude to work place injuries. THAT'S why Royal mail is in such a fucking mess! It should be Re-Nationalised and return it's focus to the CUSTOMERS and WORKERS instead of the shareholders and their damned didvidends!

Typical boss in this day and age, hopeless and find.

I worked for Royal Mail. This guy is a flat out liar. Letters are going for days on end without being delvered. They are NOT delivering on USO. Haven't been for years.

Simon Thompson was managing director of the NHS test and trace programme, I would say enough said!!!!!

The man seems incapable of answering a straight question

Watching Darren Jones in this video, I have no idea how he's not on the front bench. Definitely a talent for Labour.

This CEO was "managing director of the NHS test and trace programme". With the Tories: do a horrible job, get promoted, do a horrible job in another role, etc

Wish there were more MPs like him who are representing the people not looking to feather his own nest. Well done mate, you did a great job

I’ve NEVER voted Labour but if this guy was my MP I’d do so. He’s outstanding

So this is the prick I need to be blaming when I end up missing important appointments for my heart problem and other health issues I have which could very easily kill me even though I'm only 36.

watching this CEO squirm is fucking awesome

Darren does a great job of balancing politeness with toughness. When I watch him, sometimes I feel like I'm the one getting a bollocking and I haven't even done anything wrong.

Lies lies & more lies from the CEO of Royal Mail =Mr S Thompson

The Gentleman chairing this Parliamentary Select Committee was excellent in his line of questioning, he was concise, firm and fair. Simon Thompson talks about customers and shareholders, however worryingly he has to be prompted about employees, frankly reading between the lines he treats his workforce with utter contempt. Furthermore, he implements new technology but fails to understand the “PDA” acronym, another example of incompetence! PDA = Postal Digital Assistant. Let’s be clear, this guy sees workers and fair working conditions as an inconvenience to his objective, which is to employ as many people as possible on self employed contractor contracts. No sick pay, no holidays, no overtime rates, no responsibility and maximum profits. He is incentivised to do so, in fact he admitted that he gets paid £140k bonus for delivering share holder value. He should be incentivised for treating his workforce fairly, with dignity and respect. The Postal workers worked all through the pandemic, CEO doesn’t praise or talk about his workforce with any respect. In fact, he has previously stated that direct labour is too expensive in the U.K. He also says that the Royal Mail division is going bust and at the same time informs investors that Royal Mails underlying balance sheet is very healthy, which on is it Simon? This CEO is clearly out of his depth, he is driven by greed at whatever the cost to people. People make good businesses and good customer relations . The way this CEO operates is an absolute disgrace, shame on him. The worst part of human behaviour is ‘greed’ , this guy is simply excessively greedy. The Industrial Action is clearly a choice on the CEOs part. Customers and Employees are the ones that suffer, Not Simon Thompson or his board of directors, they do very well thank you by exploitation of employees. Finally, An independent body needs to set Directors remuneration criteria not the board he financially Benefits from their own board room set criteria. The chair of the select committee worked out quite quickly the MO of this incompetent, bullying, inexperienced and incompetent CEO. The select committee will deduce that the problem is the CEO and not the workforce.

The CEO sounded exactly like a Tory minister. Unable to take responsibility for anything, lie and blame other people or circumstances, avoid answering straight forward questions by spewing out meaningless sound bites, and looking as smug as possible while doing it. Great job by Darren Jones.

The perfect example of a CEO not fit for purpose

WOW!! This explains why my 81 yr old father's appointment for vital surgery arrived 3 days after the operation was scheduled to take place. The irony is, he was a postman his whole life, and never took a day off sick.

Just right in front of our faces. It's blatant. I don't know what we do about it, but it's sickening.

Darren Jones is a breath of fresh air. Do not even try BS him,

Please keep holding these CEO's to account.

Wow, this is an MP worth voting for.

The 'Bonus' I was paid last year was based on the amount off bullshit I could sow and get away with?..maybe?

a great MP we need more like him

Must be recalled to parliament for not telling the truth

"I congratulate you on that but, if you don't have any workers I'm not sure it's going to go terribly well for you." 😂

Great lines of questioning. A few more like him please.

Quite possibly the worst CEO in Royal Mail history and has literally bought a 507 year old company to its knees . It's almost as if he's hell bent on destroying an institution ripe for a cheaper takeover . The reported cyber attack has further crippled a company racking up losses close to an eye watering £ 1 billion ! whilst Simon was ducking and evading all questions by the committee . Great dissection job by Darren Jones

Funny how parcels are a priority for them. Had a special delivery marked ‘undeliverable’ and two attempts made to deliver it - I’ve been at home both days and today as I sat at home I had a notification to say delivery was attempted again… yet, no knock or ring on the door. Had to chase the postman down the road to get it… and then was told I had 5 minutes to go back to my house to get my ID. What’s that about? The service has been diabolical since privatisation and I’m not shocked.

Why’s Darren not on the front bench? I’d love to see him as Angie’s deputy.

I am not a CEO, but am breaking into a cold sweat remembering the grilling i used to receive trying to explain to the Directors (at monthly accountability meetings) why my projects were overspent and behind schedule. This MP is excellent.

He should have questioned him on why he has cut royal mail workers hours, yet he can afford over £100.000 bonus for himself? This is not about his workers welfare, Nor does he care one bit, cutting hours by half it's called greed, for all the shareholders and management of royal mail. Lower than low, snakes more liking.

Another slippery CEO who is incapable of telling the truth, and well done to the Labour MP you did an excellent job .

Simon Thompson is in Daniel Kretinsky's pocket 😂Doing everything he can to avoid questions, even straight up lying through his teeth about company procedure's.. Them poster's telling you what to prioritise are in every office in the UK... He's basically trying to self sabotage Royal Mail for the benefit of the single largest shareholder of the company (Daniel Kretinsky) planning to buy out Royal Mail cheap and strip it of all it's assets for profit, and he is running out of time to do it!

After listening to this, i went into work this morning the happiest iv'e been for a long time. Been a postie for 24 years....

He is lying through his back teeth..we were even called back to office to leave mail and go out with Parcels.

Well this MP is well and truly on his case and bringing them to book. Challenging, direct, forceful and not someone who let's them get away with things. It's about time organisations were put to the sword over shareholder value and shareholder returns. This MP is first class. Keep up the good work.

I live in the US but I wish we had someone like this MP in our Congress

I’m guessing he’s never watched Postman Pat. If he did, he would know how the Post Office / Royal Mail is supposed to work. Yet again the over complication of such a simple system run by people who’ve never delivered post. The sooner it gets re-nationalised, the better.

First I've seen of Darren. Massively impressed.

8:05 the CEO’s face when he realises he can’t keep ignoring the questions and trying to redirect into his own talking points, priceless♥️

Darren Jones, as always, was utterly brilliant!! That incompetent, dangerously underqualified CEO was a disgrace. There needs to be more consequences for people like that.

Us posties need this exposure, the public has almost no idea what goes on in a delivery office! its a shambles

No CEO should ever be paid for delivering share holder value - that should be made illegal.

That was EXACTLY the priority list I was told both as a postie by managers, and later required to tell posties as a manager in several offices at various times in recent years. It was standard protocol whenever pressure hit, such as when Covid meant vans could not be shared or staff were off sick.

I hope Darren Jones follows up on this because Royal Mail employees seem to feel the CEO is dysfunctional and tells lies. The guy at the back with glasses seems to be thinking the same

Darren Jones' questions about his bloody big bonus and it being changed to 'share holder value'. BRILLIANT. 💪💪💪

Why don’t they question MPs like this

Hes brilliant at holding these scumbags to account he takes no prisoners

As a postman, can I just say? This is music to my ears.

When Royal Mail was sold off eight years ago, it was sold off for £1bn less than its worth.

Most of the news we see about politicians make it seem that all they do is bicker amongst themselves, seeing Darren doing his job and being so good at it is refreshing. This sort of thing should get a lot more prominence and this skill set should be more valued than just image and making alliances.

My postie tells me of the daily threats they get...from this man...clueless

If Royal Mail are still here in ten years time, I'll be surprised

What a great clip. I've sent it to my daughter - who aspires to be an MP - as a role model to set her sights on.

I've said this before but Darren Jones should be on the front bench. He's cool, forensic and absolutely committed to getting the truth out of the serial liars that currently inhabit the upper reaches of our industries and their political masters. And if he doesn't get it, he makes sure that they are in no doubt that they will be seen for what they are. He really need promoting.

what a class act Darren Jones is, he’s only 36! This man is going far

He joined Royal Mail because he had finished with being at Track and Trace but the share holders are happy and that’s what counts…

Q…..How do you know when Simon Thompson is telling lies? A……His lips move🤣🤣

Now that's what you call a grilling.

A good example of parliamentary due diligence. Well done for representing us with integrity

“How much are you paid?” “Im sorry, i dont understand the question” “How much are you paid?” “Oh, im sorry, I thought you said ‘how much am I spade’ 😂 With all that obfuscation he could be a Tory Frontbencher 😂😂

What a man .. Darren Jones .. so impressive in your direct, honest summing up and questioning … more power to you

"do you know what a PBA is and do you use technology to determine working efficiency" "No I don't know what I PBA is and no we do not use technology" 2 seconds later "We do use a PDA yes and we do use technology to determine work efficiency" This is the state of the Royal Mail...

There speaks a truly untrustworthy individual.

Dude behind him is not buying it

An great example of an MP who clearly does his research and takes no bullshit. Give this guy a leading roll in the shadow cabinet.

he should really stop talking because by doing so he is digging his own grave