Award mooted for junk mail postie

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The postman at the centre of a junk mail row could become nominated for a Royal Mail First Class People award after a campaign by a local newspaper.

Roger Annies, 45, from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, was disciplined after telling people on his post round about an opt-out clause.

But his temporary suspension by Royal Mail sparked outrage.

The Barry and District News want Mr Annies to be nominated for the award to recognise his "public-spirited act".

Mr Annies, originally from Germany, hit the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed he had been disciplined for delivering a leaflet to households on his round which gave instructions on how to stop receiving "unwanted post".

The campaign was highlighted on the front page of the paper

He was suspended when his actions came to the notice of Royal Mail managers who said their "door-to-door" service - the delivery of unsolicited mail - was vital to business.

In September, following a disciplinary hearing he was reinstated by his bosses.

However he has not returned to his job after being diagnosed as suffering with stress.

After discovering the Royal Mail were launching their First Class People award, the Barry and District News started their own campaign to encourage their readers to nominate Mr Annies.

According to their website, the Royal Mail "would like to hear stories about '1st Class' postmen and women who are charity fundraisers in their spare time, or have performed a public-spirited act or dealt with an emergency while doing their deliveries".

The newspaper felt Mr Annies fitted that role.

Richard Gurner, a reporter at the paper explained: "There was such a national outcry about what happened to Roger Annies that we thought it was appropriate and important to try and get people to nominate him for this award.

"What he did hit such a nerve right across the board.

Reporter Richard Gurner started the campaign

"There were people who were saying junk mail was annoying right through to local authorities complaining about how they had to deal with the junk mail which people had just thrown away."

Royal Mail chiefs who are behind the award, which is in its third year and has a prize fund of £30,000, want the public to nominate postmen and women who have shown "amazing acts of heroism and generosity" during their duties.

Mr Gurner added: "He let the customers on his round know how to avoid unaddressed junk mail and by doing so helped to improve the public image of Royal Mail as an environmentally friendly company.

"But he was suspended for his trouble, despite a lot of support from the customers.

"I can't see why he wouldn't be in with a good chance for getting an award because the people on his round showed their support by starting a petition and I can't see why they wouldn't nominate him for this award."

A spokesman for Royal Mail said they would not be commenting on the campaign being run by the Barry and District News.