Following Mr John Duggan's complaint about junk mail (Letters, June 22), readers may not be aware of two ways to prevent it being delivered.

Firstly, Royal Mail operates a business service called Door-to-Door, whereby a company can buy your address and pay Royal Mail to deliver items straight to your door.

Royal Mail proudly boasts on its web site that in 2001, more than eight billion items of (junk) mail were delivered at a total cost of £760 million.

I imagine this would have increased in the past four years.

It goes on to say Door-to-Door is the only service which offers total UK coverage for unaddressed items such as leaflets, catalogues and other promotional material.

Total coverage means it can give companies access to more than 27 million homes throughout the UK.

My understanding is this is not covered by the mailing preference service and I had to telephone Royal Mail to be sent a form enabling me to opt out of the Door-to-Door unwanted and, more importantly, unrequested service.

The phone number to opt out is 08457 034 599. This can also be done online at www.royalmail.com

Secondly, you get in touch with the mailing preference service direct.

It will ensure only your name and address are removed from direct mail mailing lists, so it shouldn't matter if you share a postcode with others.

This may take a few weeks to take effect but is worth doing. It can be found online at www.mpsonline.org.uk

Personally, I abhor the saturation of junk mail we are forced to endure. Not only does it waste countless tons of paper, it also wastes time.

If I wanted home/car/holiday insurance, double glazing or a conservatory, I would seek out a reputable local business for its service.

Unfortunately, there seems to be nothing which can be done about the ever-increasing number of fast food, estate agents' and cleaning leaflets which are delivered with such efficiency and in such large quantities in Brighton.

Maybe Royal Mail should be looking at these for inspiration on hitting their targets, rather than selling our details to all and sundry.

-Billy-Jo Maynard, Head of Media and Communications, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Brighton