A weekly newspaper is to appeal to the Information Commissioner after the Royal Mail refused to release details about offences by its staff.

The Hertfordshire Mercury submitted a Freedom of Information request following the case of Herts postman Lindsay Gotts, who received a suspended jail sentence for cashing hundreds of pounds of other people’s Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

Chief reporter Dan Peters asked the company how many postal workers had been prosecuted over a five-year period and how many of those had led to prosecutions by the company and how many by the police.

A regional breakdown on the figures was also requested but was refused by the company on the basis that it would contravene data protection.

It said some areas only had a very small number of incidents and release of the information would potentially result in individuals being identified.

Said Dan: “I believe Royal Mail should be more open about its employees who steal private mail and used the Freedom of Information Act in an attempt to force their hand. After my request was refused, I now plan to take this investigation to the Information Commissioner.”

When the Mercury asked for national figures, Royal Mail changed its reason for refusal, stating that if the requested information was disclosed it would be likely to be misconstrued and taken out of context resulting in unfair damage to the reputation of employees and public perception of the company.

Information rights officer, Kate Fearn wrote:  “Disclosure of the information would therefore place Royal Mail at a commercial disadvantage to its rivals who are not required to publish equivalent information themselves.

“The interests of the public would not be served by placing Royal Mail at a commercial disadvantage. Royal Mail Group therefore believes that the overall balance of public interest is in favour of withholding this information.”

The Royal Mail has a policy to investigate postal offences in-house and only seek assistance from the police where the specific circumstances or level of risk makes it appropriate to do so.

Mercury deputy editor Julie Gibson added: “This story has been a long-running issue, and we are refusing to let it drop. We strongly feel there should be more openness from the company.”

The Royal Mail has not so far responded to requests for a comment.