FIRST class mail deliveries in south Hampshire are among the best in the country, according to new figures.

Between January and March this year, 95.2 per cent of mail going out to areas with an SO postcode, which includes Eastleigh, Winchester and Southampton, was delivered the next day.

It compares to 94.5 per cent in Bournemouth, 92.6 per cent in Portsmouth and an average 92.8 per cent nationally.

Royal Mail's regional boss Tim Barber praised staff for turning around the business.

"Postmen and woman have worked exceptionally hard to deliver a better service to customers and they should be commended for their efforts," he said.

The figures are released as the state-owned operator announced record annual profits of £537m.

Postal workers are to be given bonuses of £1,074 after Royal Mail turned around losses of more than £1.5m a day three years ago, to profits of more than £2m a day in the past 12 months.

Between April 2003 and March 2004, the average next-day deliveries for homes in the SO postcode was 91.7 per cent. This time last year, Royal Mail bosses decided to scrap the second daily delivery.

Posties were sent out later, with bigger rounds, and the Daily Echo received scores of complaints from unhappy customers whose mail was arriving later and later.

Managers insisted the new system would "bed down" eventually - and it appears it did. From April 2004 until March this year, the delivery rate rose to 92.5 per cent, boosted by the record 95.2 per cent first class mail arriving next day from January until March.

City businesses appear to be happier with the service. Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce director general Jimmy Chestnutt said: "It is clearly important for local businesses to have confidence in their communications with their customers and other businesses. We are particularly pleased that Southampton is in the forefront of these improvements".

Royal Mail's Mr Barber added: "Staff and managers have done a fantastic job to produce some of the best results we have ever delivered to customers in the area.

"These figures make very positive reading and I am proud of the work everyone has put in. The radical changes made by the business 12 months ago also have a positive impact. These figures will be hard to maintain, but it is a challenge we are relishing."