Postal workers want more pay

The firm agreed the donation with watchdog body Postwatch, and is to come from special stamp sales next year.

The decision follows severe disruption to postal services caused by wildcat strikes in London and elsewhere.

Postwatch said it accepted individual compensation claims would be impossible for Royal Mail to handle.

The priority at this point, it said, was for Royal Mail to concentrate on getting services back to normal from the dispute, which meant some post from October has still to be delivered.

'Sincerely sorry'

"Both organisations recognised the need for customers to be shown, in some tangible way, that Royal Mail was sincerely sorry to customers for the inconvenience caused," Postwatch said in a statement.

Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier stressed the need for an apology.

"We let our customers down," he said in a statement, "and this is a straightforward way to say sorry."