OXFORDSHIRE was today facing up to the start of yet another postal strike.

About 2,000 workers across the county were due to walk out at noon today, along with colleagues across the UK, as the next round of action in the national dispute is launched.

Staff will stay out for 48 hours until 12pm on Saturday, but effectively there will be no deliveries as another two-day strike starts at 3am on Monday.

The disruption is expected to cause a backlog of millions of items of mail, which union officials say could take up to two weeks to clear.

The strikes focus on pay, changes to working conditions and also the closure of the Oxford Mail Centre in Cowley, which has been put on the national agenda.

Oxfordshire Communication Workers Union representative Bob Cullen said: "If the situation is allowed to continue, what we are facing is the end of the Royal Mail in three years.

"We have got to win it back, but if we don't have the equipment, the offices or the capacity to handle the mail, then it won't happen."

Businesses are facing up to the prospect of another damaging period of no deliveries.

Barry Wheatley, chairman of the Oxfordshire Federation of Small Businesses, said: "This just puts more pressure in businesses and people are now looking for alternatives. We are an advanced economy and to not have a reliable postal service is unacceptable."

Source: Witney Gazette