Royal Mail denies turnover of staff is any higher than normal

Agency staff, employed in up to 20 of 37 delivery offices in the area, are "not up to" the job, the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) spokesperson said.

He said: "There have been staff who have resigned and not taken redundancy as reported in the local press."

Royal Mail deny staff turnover is any higher than normal.

We are getting on top of the issues that have been thrown up Royal Mail spokesperson

A spokesperson for the firm said: "Resignations do tend to increase slightly at this time of year, after the Christmas period, but this is nothing unusual."

But the CWU spokesperson told BBC News Online: "I understand the situation at the delivery offices with disillusionment among staff.

"Royal Mail is trying to cope using agency staff who are not up to it."

Alleged problems include late deliveries, parcels being dumped on doorsteps or sent back into the sorting system and 'missed delivery cards' not being left at homes and businesses.

"Any postal worker who's been in the business a substantial amount of time just wouldn't let what's going on happen - it's where we've got these casual staff that there are problems," he said.

The union said they did not know whether the situation would spark a walk-out by staff.

"Well, nothing has reached our ears but that's not to say it won't happen," the spokesperson said.

'Addressing issues'

Royal Mail has defended its employment of temporary agency staff as part of its scrapping of second-day deliveries.

A spokesperson told BBC News Online: "We are employing temporary staff at a number of sites across the whole area - it's probably higher at the moment because we're in the early stages of a new delivery system.

"I think the new system, the one-delivery-a-day system as opposed to two, is a major change, probably the biggest for many, many years.

"Our staff and customers are having to adjust to it. In some places that has been going better than others."

"We are getting on top of the issues that have been thrown up.

"Where issues have been raised, either by staff or by unions, we are addressing those and trying to make the change as smooth as possible."