London Unions accused Royal Mail of double standards after it missed nine of its twelve service targets last year but still paid a £2million performance bonus to its chief executive, Adam Crozier.

Many of the regulator's service standards were missed because of the industrial action last year.

Mr Crozier's total pay came to £3million and Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers' Union, said: “The £3million paid to Crozier was defended on the basis that the company had met its performance targets. We now see ... that this was not the case. Management are clearly being rewarded for failure.”

Ninian Wilson, Royal Mail's operations director, said the objective was to restore the record levels of quality seen before last year's dispute.

Postwatch, the consumers' group, said Royal Mail's recovery from the wave of industrial action in the summer and autumn was “disappointingly slow”.

Millie Banerjee, chairman, said the disruption will have led customers to find other ways to communicate. “This will have reduced postal volumes, which will in turn damage Royal Mail's financial stability for years to come.”

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