We MUST stop this Royal Mail heist: Six reasons why sale to Czech tycoon is bad for investors, bad for customers and bad for Britain
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The postie, in his all-weather shorts, is so much-loved in one Hertfordshire village that each Christmas residents buy him a £500 gift voucher, plus champagne and chocolates. At this festive season, love it or hate it, the Royal Mail is an enduring feature of our lives.
![[Concerns: Kretinsky, nicknamed the Czech Sphinx, is likely to try to maximise his profits and to scale back service commitments]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/20/93291081-14206763-image-a-1_1734554363151.jpg)
Whether one is queueing for an hour-and-a-half to post a gift to a loved one Down Under or forking out a whopping £13.20 for a book of eight, bar-coded first-class stamps, most households have a relationship with the Royal Mail. There is nothing nicer than receiving a handwritten card (even if delayed!) in an age when e-greetings pile into the inbox alongside scams, junk and other unwanted messages.
The Royal Mail’s bright red pillar boxes with the crest of the monarch, stamps with the King’s head – even the unfailing nuisance of having to visit often down-at-heel sorting offices to collect parcels – are an unchanging aspect of British life.
Takeover: Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire who's had historic entanglements with Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia, is close to taking control of Royal Mail. Yet this oh-so-familiar institution, which trades on the London stock market as International Distribution Services (IDS), is facing an existential crisis.
Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire who’s had historic entanglements with Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia, is close to taking control with a £3.6bn takeover bid. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has given a thumbs-up to a deal, naively taking guarantees made as to the future of the postal service and the way it is run at face value.
