Sir - A year ago, I had the same experience as Anthony Cheke Insane bureaucracy is alive and well (Letters, December 14).

However, I had to drive to the relevant office as I was expecting an important letter and feared that the underpaid one might be it.

The whole trip took about half an hour of my time, and contributed to carbon emissions. How does Royal Mail square that with their environmental policy "At Royal Mail Group Ltd, we want to run businesses that take responsibility for minimising their impact on the environment."? (Quote from their website) I paid the necessary £1 for a 6p underfranked item - which inevitably turned out to be junk mail - but did rather wonder why it was handed to me without a request for identification, which I had forgotten to bring with me, in spite of bold notices which said that such items would not be handed over without identification. So much for security, and environmental, policies and procedures.

A few days latter I spoke to our postman who told me that until a little earlier it was possible to pay the 6p to him and then be given the letter immediately.

Understandably he did not want to be too openly hostile to his employers, but between the lines I could see that he shared my view that this change of policy was nonsensical.

Richard Shock, Oxford