Postwatch has been campaigning for their reinstatement

Metal tabs, which will show if the last collection has been made, will be introduced on post boxes during 2004.

Consumer watchdog Postwatch, which has campaigned for their reintroduction, said it was "delighted".

A Postwatch survey earlier this year said customers could not rely on the stated last collection time, with many post boxes actually emptied before it.

Postal u-turn

Collection tabs were scrapped in 2002, when the notices on the front of boxes were changed to give only the time of the last collection of the day.

The new notices were introduced to make them clearer and to comply with disability discrimination legislation.

Under the previous system, a printed notice on the front of the box had a numbered list of what times the collections would take place.

Royal Mail deserve recognition... for taking steps to put things right Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch

Above the posting slot itself, there was a white tab indicating the number of the next collection.

Unlike the previous system, tabs will indicate only when the last post has been collected - and not every pick-up.

"It's just a little metal tab inserted into a post box so that customers know whether the last collection has happened. It's simple, cheap and helpful," said Kay Dixon, chairman of Postwatch Greater London.

'Too early'

The research published by Postwatch in January 2004 found that 20,000 post boxes a day were emptied too early.

According to its research almost one in five collections were up to 15 minutes earlier than timetabled on the box.

A similar proportion of post boxes were emptied between 15 and 45 minutes after the last collection time.

At the time the Royal Mail apologised for the premature collections, and said it would be pursuing the issue with local sorting offices.

Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, said: "Royal Mail deserve recognition for accepting they got it wrong and for taking steps to put things right."