Parcel industry acts to get deliveries back on track. (News).

Parcel carrier Securicor Omega Express (SOE) is introducing a series of new business practices in a bid to resolve the crisis in the UK parcel delivery industry, which has been stung by repeated criticism about late and unpredictable deliveries blighting new releases and leaving retailers short of key stock.

The parcel industry was sent into drastic under-capacity earlier this year when Consignia's Parceline exited the standard parcels market, leaving around 80m excess parcels to be delivered by its competitors, including SOE.

SOE sales and marketing director Simon Veale says the move placed a massive strain on his company and prompted stinging criticism from retailers and retail body Bard. "Once Royal Mail decided to restructure, it was inevitable this would have a major effect on the UK parcels market. The unanticipated extra volumes have placed real pressure on network schedules," he says.

With the Christmas period approaching (SOE estimates November will experience a 20% seasonal increase above the average daily volume) some retailers were expecting meltdown.

Veale recently met with representatives from Pinnacle, Universal and BMG and Bard operations committee chairman Paul Quirk, who has been critical of SOE in the past, to help turn the situation around with a series of new measures. Veale concedes some have been "short term fixes", but says others are going to be introduced permanently and are designed exclusively for the music business.

The key measures include endeavouring to deliver on Saturday if a Friday delivery has been missed, and introducing a ...