PILOT schemes to abolish the second post were being introduced in 14 areas around the UK today as Consignia began rethinking its controversial plan to charge many customers £14 a week for early delivery.

Chairman Allan Leighton said the company would examine the options of charging £5 or £10 a week for a delivery before 9am because £14 could be too much for small businesses.

The pilot schemes mean that selected postcode areas will receive only one delivery per day as part of a shake-up of services designed to reverse more than £1bn of financial losses.

The scheme is part of three-year plan aimed at returning the Consignia group to profitability.

By reorganising deliveries to provide customers with one delivery daily the Royal Mail expects to save about £350 million gross a year.

But Mr Leighton, who acknowledged that he had not been briefed on the £14-a-week plan before news of it broke in the media this week, said Consignia was having a rethink.

He said: "We are having a rethink, because on one hand I am trying to put a price increase through on stamps so I can argue that the first class stamp is the best value you can get.

"And one of the things we have to do for our customers is we have to deliver some value. I think that £14 is a lot of money for small businesses."

At present the second post accounts for about 20% of delivery costs, but only carries 4% of the UK's mail. The new plans aim to reduce travelling costs and make the service more efficient.

Customers receiving more than 20 letters a day will receive their mail before 9am while others will be delivered by noon.

Pilot areas include: Crawley, West Sussex; Bow, east London; Edinburgh Dell; Sheringham, Norfolk; east Manchester; Llanelli; Newbury, Berks; Newhaven, East Sussex; Loughborough, Leicestershire, Halifax, West Yorkshire; Plymouth, Devon; Ballymena, Northern Ireland; Thirsk in North Yorkshire and St Helens, Merseyside.