Why did the postal van take the ferry to the Isle of Wight? Because its trolleys for carrying the mail had broken down.This is no joke. Royal Mail spends £2m a year fixing the trolleys it uses to wheel post around its sorting depots. A considerable amount of this is spent shipping the defunct crates across the Solent because that is where the vehicle repair centre is for three depots on the south coast of England.The 30-minute ferry journey across the Solent to the Isle of Wight is famously one of the most expensive, mile-for-mile, in the world. So it seems strange that Royal Mail should have chosen the island as the location for a vehicle repair centre serving three sorting offices on the south coast of England.

It is especially unfunny if you are Such inefficiencies are typical of the challenges facing Adam Crozier, the chief executive of Royal Mail, trying as he tries to ready the nation’UK’s 350-year-old postal carrier for full competition with a spread of private sector operators in less than six months time.