Royal Mail stopped making a second delivery to cities throughout Britain earlier this year, but a spokesperson claimed this will not affect the timely delivery of exam results tomorrow.

She said, “Everyone in a city should expect to receive their results between 9 am and noon. People living in rural areas should expect their results before 3 pm.

However, there are procedures in place if a candidate’s results are not delivered.

A spokesman for the Scottish Qualifications Authority explained, “Usually a candidate who has not received their certificate has moved address in the last year and has not informed us. The certificate goes to their previous address.

“When the postman realises the address is wrong, the certificate is kept at that post office depot for the rest of the week. However, the easiest way a candidate can find out their results immediately is by phoning their college or school.

“But we do not expect anything to go wrong. We fully expect the results to be accurate and timely.”

If their SQA certificate has not arrived by Friday August 13, then candidates have been instructed to contact their school or college to resolve the problem.

“If pupils do not get the results they were hoping for to get into a further education institution, there are still avenues open. Again the first port of call is their school or college,” the SQA spokesman continued. “There is also the One Life Career Scotland phone line on which a pupil can discuss their options with an adviser.

“Of course, a candidate can always appeal the decision although we are trying to keep the number of appeals to a minimum this year.”

University and Colleges Admission Service runs the clearing process, a service that helps people without a confirmed university or college place find suitable course vacancies for the forthcoming academic year.

The clearing process for Scottish universities starts tomorrow and for English universities on August 19, after English students receive their A-level results.

Gordon Craig, director of admissions and student recruitment at Dundee University, said, “We will have a team of students manning a helpline from 8am to 9pm to deal with inquiries about a place at Dundee University. People who did not get the results that we stipulated should still contact us.”

Leslie Balfour, student recruitment manager of Abertay University, said, “We are operating a helpline from 8.45am to 6pm on which trained advisers can give students advice about getting a place at the university.”

The One Life Career Scotland helpline to help with career advice is 0808 1008000, the Dundee University clearing helpline is 01382 345464 and the Abertay helpline is 01382 308080.