UK customers warned not to post letters ahead of strike

Customers were urged not to post any letters tomorrow to ease the UK’s postbag as workers prepare to stage a 24-hour walkout in a row over pay and jobs.

The industry’s watchdog Postwatch said Royal Mail plans to continue emptying some post boxes and collecting from post offices during the walkout on Friday.

But the group said customers could help to reduce the strain on the “skeleton” collection service by not posting anything from tomorrow until early next week.

A spokesman said: “The vast majority of post offices – the sub-post offices - will not be affected and will open as normal.

“The Royal Mail will also use managers to keep the Special Delivery service running as best they can.

“They will not, however, offer the usual money back guarantee of delivery by a specified day and time. This guarantee will be suspended for items posted on both Thursday and Friday.

“There are other courier companies whose products will be unaffected by this strike action.

“The impact of the strike will to a large extent depend on the scale of the action, but customers should assume they will not receive mail on Friday and that mail for a few days afterwards might take longer to arrive as backlogs in the system are worked through.”

Postwatch said the strike will mean that important mail items such as hospital and other appointments, credit card bills and travel tickets could be severely delayed.

The Communication Workers Union is holding the strike after rejecting a 2.5% pay offer and warning that Royal Mail’s modernisation plans will lead to 40,000 job losses.

The Royal Mail insisted it had no more money to improve the pay offer.

George Thomson, general secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters, said: “We want to see the Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail management try to reach a settlement to this dispute as a matter of urgency, for the sake of customers throughout the country.”