A BARRY postman has been suspended by the Royal Mail after he decided he no longer wanted to burden his customers with junk mail.

Roger Annies was suspended on Monday after he drew up a form and delivered it to residents on his Gibbonsdown round, asking them if they wanted junk mail delivered again.

A colleague of Mr Annies, who did not want to be named, contacted the Barry & District News and told us about Mr Annies' suspension.

He said that a recent increase from three loads of junk mail a week to five loads had prompted a rash of complaints from residents fed up with it coming through their letter boxes.

He told us that Mr Annies, concerned with the rise in complaints, had drawn up a form for his round in Gibbonsdown and that last week the sorting office was inundated with requests for more forms and that within days more than 70 forms had been sent back.

The unnamed postman said: "I can't see what he's done wrong. He was just providing a service to the customers. They filled in a form saying they don't want it anymore, no one wants this junk mail.

"Customers are always moaning, but it's more money for the Royal Mail."

When contacted by the Barry & District News, Mr Annies would not make a comment about his suspension because it was an ongoing matter between himself and his employers.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We can confirm that a postman employed at Barry Delivery Office has been given a precautionary suspension on full pay pending further investigations following an alleged misconduct issue. We would not comment further on an individual case."

In a separate statement, the spokesman said: "Customers can chose to opt out of Royal Mail's Door to Door service which is used by businesses and charities to distribute unaddressed promotional items alongside the regular post. To opt out of this service, customers should follow the official process which is to contact Royal Mail on 08457 950 950. Alternatively, customers can write to: Door to Door Opt Outs, Royal Mail, Kingsmead House, Oxpens Road, Oxford OX1 1RX.

"A note on the door saying 'No Junk Mail' or an unauthorised letter is not part of that process. People can reduce the amount of personalised, addressed mail they receive by contacting an organisation called the Mailing Preference Service (MPS), DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS by ringing 08457 034 599 or by visiting www.mpsonline.org.uk