EVERYONE must have heard that first and second class stamps will go up by 14p on April 30.

They may not know that the same day a letter to Europe will go up by 19p, from 68p to 87p! For some reason Royal Mail has decided to lump Europe in with the rest of the world for letters under 10g. The head of Royal Mail, Moya Greene, a Canadian, claims that UK rates are no higher than many in Europe.

But figures published last week, and provided by the Royal Mail, are deliberately deceptive. They refer to letters weighing over 51 grams whereas most ordinary letters weigh 10-20 grams.

Such a letter posted in France costs only 55 cents to elsewhere in France and 65 cents to EU countries, including the UK.

That is 46p and 54p, not 111p as Ms Greene claims. The rest of her figures are equally misleading.

There is a simple answer to Royal Mail trickery. Buy lots of first and second class stamps in April before they go up and use them in years to come.

For example, a 19g Christmas card to US or Australia will cost £1.28 in postage in December. Just put on two first class stamps and eight pence more – cost £1, if the first class ones are bought now.

Actually I gave up sending cards to US two years ago. I can phone my friends there for free with Talk Talk.

As a founder member of the now-defunct Oxford Consumer Group I find the deliberate deception of the public by supermarkets and other large organisations, eg Royal Mail, utterly nauseating. I can only hope it drops the prefix ‘royal’ if and when it is privatised.

M HUGH-JONES, Headley Way, Oxford