PRIVATE postal business Whistl, formerly known as TNT, has suspended its door-to-door delivery service in London, Liverpool and Manchester and is consulting 2,000 workers on redundancy.

The move follows a decision last month by potential investment partner LDC not to fund its expansion plans.

Whistl will continue to provide a ser-vice, but will revert back to using the Royal Mail for the “final mile.” Shares in Royal Mail rose 3.3 per cent after the news was announced.

Last month, LDC, a division of of Lloyds Banking Group, decided against investing in Whistl because of “ongoing changes in UK postal market dynamics and the complexity of the regulatory landscape.”

At the time, Whistl said it would hold back from expansion but planned to continue its existing service.

Whistl said: “Following the announce-ment from LDC that it would not proceed with the proposed investment to fund further rollout of end-to-end service, we have now commenced an extensive review of the viability and potential for the rollout of an e2e postal delivery service in the UK.”

Whistl said it would begin consult-ations with employees affected by the suspension of the end-to-end service, and with their union representatives.

Royal Mail has previously comp-lained competitors such as Whistl have an unfair advantage because they do not have to provide delivery to the whole country for a single price.

Whistl changed its name from TNT last year as part of a 2011 separation agreement with its former owners.

It began delivering in West London in April 2012, later rolling out its end-to-end service in Manchester and Liverpool.