POSTAL watchdogs have criticised the performance by the Royal Mail as latest figures reveal that just 87 percent of letters in Gwent are delivered on time.

The NP postcode, which covers the Gwent region, is ranked as the 13th worst performing area in the UK, according to the latest research.

The region falls short of the national Post Office target of 92 percent of first class mail being delivered the next day but shows a marked improvement of 3.7 percent on last month's figures.

Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, the postal watchdog, said: "We are consistently promised by Royal Mail that performance will improve.

"These results show service levels in the first quarter did not improve on last year's very poor performance.

"For the last three years, customers have been paying higher prices for a declining service. This is a bad consumer equation.

"Reports of improvements in recent months are welcome but the management has an uphill task to reach all of the service targets by the end of the year."

Royal Mail Chief Executive Adam Crozier said: "Delivering consistent high quality service remains Royal Mail's number one priority."

Of the postal regions in Wales, only Swansea had a poorer level of service than Newport with under 82 percent of its first class mail arriving on time.

The figures are compiled by independent researchers who post 100,000 letters and parcels each month.