Inland Post Warrant, 1955

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1955/1877

1955 No. 1877

The Inland Post Warrant, 1955

12thDecember 1955

14thDecember 1955

1stJanuary 1956

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

PART I

Interpretation and application

1. Interpretation.

2. Application.

PART II

Postage

3. Rates of postage.

4. Additional postage on late posted packets.

5. Additional postage on certain parcels.

PART III

General conditions

6. Prohibitions.

7. Packets containing others for different persons.

8. Packing.

9. Limits of size and weight.

10. Payment of postage and fees.

11. Treatment of irregular packets.

12. Return of undeliverable postal packets (except parcels).

13. Return of undeliverable parcels.

14. Treatment of packets addressed to deceased persons.

PART IV

Conditions relating to particular classes of packets

15. Postcards.

16. Printed packets.

17. Despatch of certain printed packets.

18. Registration of newspapers under the Act.

19. Conditions as to registered newspapers.

20. Parcels.

21. Parcels—Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

22. Articles for the use of the blind.

23. Sample packets.

PART V

Postal Facilities

24. General.

25. Express delivery.

26. Railex service.

27. Redirection by the public.

28. Evasion of postage by redirection.

29. Poste restante.

PART VI

Registration and compensation

30. Registration.

31. Conditions as to registered packets.

32. Receipts for registered packets.

33. Compulsory registration.

34. Compensation for registered packets.

35. Compensation for unregistered parcels.

36. Compensation for unregistered express packets.

PART VII

Cash on delivery

37. Fees and conditions.

38. Delivery of c.o.d. packets.

39. Payment of trade charge to sender.

40. Trade charge money orders—crossing.

41. Trade charge money orders—payment to bankers.

42. Discharge to Crown by payment.

43. Void trade charge money orders.

PART VIII

General

44. Priority of letter post.

45. Variation of route.

46. Remission of postage and fees.

47. Application of Warrant to packets to and from the Republic of Ireland.

48. Revocation.

49. Citation and commencement.

We, the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by virtue of the powers conferred upon us by sections 5, 7, 8, 10, 15 and 81 of the Post Office Act, 1953(a), section 9 of the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947(b), and of all other powers enabling us in this behalf, do by this Warrant, made on the representation of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General (testified by his signing the same), and under the hands of two of us the said Commissioners, order, direct and declare as follows:—

PART I—INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

Interpretation

1.—(1) In this Warrant, except so far as the contrary is provided or the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them:

"the Act" means the Post Office Act, 1953;

(a) 1 & 2 Eliz. 2. c. 36.

(b) 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 44.

"articles for the use of the blind" has the meaning assigned to it by regulation twenty-two;

"business reply letter" means a letter, postcard or printed packet, which—

(a) is addressed to a person who has made provision to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General for the payment of postage in accordance with the provisions of this Warrant on business reply letters received by him; and

(b) contains or has thereon only a communication sent by way of a reply to a communication from the addressee; and

(c) is distinguished or marked in such manner as the Postmaster-General may direct;

"cash on delivery packet" means a registered letter, printed packet or registered newspaper or a registered or unregistered parcel upon which the Postmaster-General undertakes at the request of the sender to collect or secure the collection of a sum of money (in this Warrant referred to as a trade charge) on his behalf from the addressee of the packet as a condition of delivery and upon which the sender has paid the fee for the cash on delivery service;

"customs duty" includes purchase tax;

"express delivery office" means any post office from time to time authorised by the Postmaster-General for the reception of postal packets for conveyance and delivery by special messenger;

"express packet" means a postal packet conveyed and delivered by special messenger, at the request of the sender or the addressee, throughout its whole course in the post or any part thereof;

"inland", when used in relation to any postal packet or any description thereof, means posted within the British postal area and addressed to some place in the British postal area, but does not include—

(a) a postal packet addressed to any of Her Majesty's ships, whether or not the name of a port in the British postal area or the words "c/o General Post Office" be included in the address, or

(b) a postal packet addressed to a British ship notwithstanding that the packet is addressed c/o General Post Office or c/o the shipowners or their agents in the United Kingdom

if in either case such packet has to be sent abroad for delivery;

"jewellery" means:—

(a) gold, silver or platinum or other precious metal in a manufactured state; that is to say, a state in which value is added to the raw material by skilled workmanship, and in this definition are included any coins used or designed for purposes of ornament;

(b) diamonds and precious stones;

(c) watches, the cases of which are entirely or mainly composed of gold, silver or platinum or other precious metal; and

(d) any article of a like nature which, apart from workmanship, has an intrinsic or marketable value;

"late posted packet" has the meaning assigned to it by regulation four;

"letter", except where that expression is used in regulation sixteen, means any postal packet except the following, namely:—a postcard, printed packet, sample packet, registered newspaper, parcel, or a packet consisting of articles for the use of the blind;

"the minimum registration fee" means the fee referred to as such in the first column of Part I of the Fourth Schedule hereto;

"paper money" means:—

(a) notes of the Bank of England, or of any bank of issue in the British Islands, and notes current in the British Islands or in any Common-wealth country or in any Foreign State;

(b) money orders and postal orders;

(c) unobliterated postage or revenue stamps, except revenue stamps embossed or impressed on an instrument which has been executed;

(d) exchequer bills, bank post bills, bills of exchange, promissory notes, cheques, credit notes which entitle the holder to money or goods and all orders and authorities for the payment of money, whether negotiable or not;

(e) bonds and coupons relating thereto and other securities for money, whether negotiable or not;

"parcel" means a postal packet which is posted as a parcel in accordance with the provisions of this Warrant;

"postal form" means a form issued by or under the authority of the Postmaster-General;

"postal packet" means and includes a letter, postcard, printed packet, sample packet, registered newspaper, parcel, and a packet consisting of articles for the use of the blind, but does not include a telegram;

"postcard" means a card of the authorised dimensions bearing either an impressed or an adhesive stamp denoting a rate of postage, and, except where the context otherwise requires, includes a reply postcard;

"prescribed" means prescribed by the Postmaster-General;

"printed packet" has the meaning assigned to it by regulation sixteen;

"railex service" means a service whereby a letter is conveyed by a special messenger from the express delivery office to the appropriate railway station, despatched from that station by the next available and suitable train and delivered to the addressee from the railway station to which it was despatched;

"redirection" as applied to a postal packet includes re-posting;

"reply postcard" means a postcard in two parts, connected together, and of such a character that the person receiving the same through the post may, without further payment, again transmit one part of such card through the post;

"sample packet" means a packet containing a specimen (without saleable value) of goods for sale:—

(a) either with or without any article or document transmissible as a printed packet, and

(b) either with or without a cover or label for the return of the sample to the dealer by whom the sample was originally posted;

"trade charge" has the meaning assigned to it in the foregoing definition of "cash on delivery packet";

"trade charge form" has the meaning assigned to it by regulation thirty-seven;

"trade charge money order" means a money order in a special form for remitting the trade charge to the sender of a cash on delivery packet or to a person named by him to receive the amount.

(2) Any reference in this Warrant to the provisions of any enactment or regulations shall be construed, unless the context otherwise requires, as a reference to those provisions as amended re-enacted or replaced by any subsequent enactment or regulations.

(3) The Interpretation Act, 1889(a), applies to the interpretation of this Warrant as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

Application

2. This Warrant shall apply exclusively to inland postal packets, except as provided in regulation forty-seven and except in so far as the provisions of this Warrant are expressly made applicable to any other postal packets by any Warrant relating to such postal packets.

PART II—POSTAGE

Rates of postage

3. There shall be charged and paid upon the postal packets specified in the first column of the First Schedule hereto the rates of postage respectively specified in the second column thereof.

Additional postage on late posted packets

4.—(1) In this regulation the expression "late posted packet" means a postal packet of such description as may be prescribed

(a) which is posted in any special posting box which may be provided by the Postmaster-General for the purpose, after the ordinary hour of collection for a particular despatch from the office of collection on a particular day in order that it may if possible be...

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