Royal Mail has made a proposal to postal regulator Postcomm to charge some businesses more for delivering bulk mail to addresses in London and a number of remote rural areas.

If the UK investment measure is approved, Royal Mail claims it will become more competitive as the extra wages paid to its workers in the capital, and associated costs like the congestion charge, would be covered.

But if the proposals did go through, no extra revenue would be generated for Royal Mail as the company planned to make delivery cheaper to high population density areas other than London.

Rural areas also cost more to deliver mail to, mainly because of the distance between deliveries and the cost of fuel and labour to service these areas.

David Simpson, spokesperson for Royal Mail, said: “I can confirm that the application for zonal pricing has been made for deliveries in London and low-density rural areas.”

He was, however, unable to confirm reports that the surcharge would be levied at 2.5% in London and 4.8% for some rural addresses.

He added: “Our rivals are already making cheaper deliveries to high-density population areas other than London, so we need to compete more efficiently with our competitors.

“These charges, if implemented, have nothing to do with the price of a stamp and we will continue to offer one-price-goes-anywhere for stamped mail.”