St Ives human resources director George Karklins only managed to get hold of the form after personally telephoning the Electoral Reform Society, which is conducting the consultation.

Karklins, who is also a member of the governing board of the Print Education Forum, added: "This raises serious questions about the reliability and validity of the ballot."

Separately, another large print group reported that it had not received the documents either, just a week before the 28 April deadline for returning questionnaires. The anonymous "plain brown envelope" nature of the mailing has also been criticised.

Karklins questioned the "scope" of the ballot, after it emerged that the list of questionnaire recipients was based on the subscriber list of Printing World, published by CMP Information.

His comments have raised concerns that small printers who are likely to be exempt from any levy would have a disproportionate say on its future. According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures, 75% of Printing World's analysed circulation of 17,869 goes to employers with 50 or less employees.

Andrew Brown, strategic partnerships director of the BPIF, said that the definition of a "small company" that would be exempt from the levy had yet to be finalised. He said that using a trade magazine subscriber list was "the most effective way of getting a good sample."

But he was unable to explain why the Printing World list had been chosen.

ABC figures show that PrintWeek has the most broad-based and up-to-date circulation of any print title.

Readers who have not received a form should contact Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@bpif.co.uk.

Story by Josh Brooks