Postal staff try out new uniforms

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/sussex/7605368.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The Royal Mail is trying out a new uniform for its postal staff which includes polo shirts, fleece tops, summer hats and cycle helmets.

The red outfit also has new lightweight cagoules, all-weather jackets and trousers with specially-designed pockets to hold new handheld computers.

Postmen and women in Brighton, Sussex, and Redhill, Surrey, are currently testing the new uniforms.

They will be introduced more widely across the country during 2009.

"The distances our postmen and women cover on their delivery rounds means they need something that stands up to the demands of the job and which keeps them warm and dry," said Royal Mail's national uniforms manager Bob Taylor.

He said customers had given positive feedback about the handheld computers used to sign for and trace items.

"These developments play a critical role in the modernisation of the postal delivery service," he said.

But the Communication Workers Union said the fact that only a few hundred workers were being offered the new uniform was a "shambles".

"This new modern and improved uniform should be rolled out across the whole country immediately," said a spokesman.