ANGRY customers claim Bolton's main Royal Mail delivery depot is in chaos, with some people having to queue for nearly two hours to collect parcels.

They have reported queues of up to 100 people waiting outside the Bolton North delivery office off Calvin Road for packages which could not be delivered to their home because they were out.

And after a long wait to get to the front of the queue, which has snaked its way across the car park during the busiest times, some customers were told their parcels could not be found.

Royal Mail has apologised for the delays, and says a rise in the number of Christmas gifts being ordered over the internet may be to blame.

It has drafted in extra staff to help deal with the problem.

One customer, Julie Ralph, aged 42, first went to collect her parcel - a pair of boots ordered through internet trading site Ebay - on Saturday.

After waiting for an hour, during which Mrs Ralph said around 100 people were queueing, staff put the shutters down at the usual 12.30pm closing time and told angry customers to return on Monday.

She tried again on Monday and again had to queue for an hour.

"My parcel couldn't be found even though it was somewhere in the building," said Mrs Ralph, of Alder Street, Great Lever, who described the situation as "chaos" but said staff were doing their best.

"It seemed like this was the response given to every other customer and there were cheers when a parcel was actually found.

"There are trolleys of parcels everywhere, parcels all over the floor - no wonder they can't find anything - and there were so many customers complaining about the wait and still not getting their parcels."

Mrs Ralph finally received her boots today after spending another half-an-hour in a 30-strong queue in rain during her lunch-hour.

Jackie Court, aged 65, of Bury New Road, The Haulgh, today got her hands on an Indiana Jones DVD she had ordered as a gift at the third time of trying.

She said she had queued for an hour and three quarters on Monday, three quarters of an hour on Tuesday and another half an hour today.

She said: "I'm disgusted. There must have been around 80 of us queueing on Monday afternoon. We were told they were short-staffed."

Dave Mitchell, aged 41, also today picked up his parcel, a speed camera detector, on his third visit to the depot, after a 40 minute wait.

Mr Mitchell, of Eastgrove Avenue, Sharples, said: "I'm pretty annoyed. If they have an unusually high number of parcels maybe they should have an unusually high number of staff to cope with them."

Jesusa Piper, aged 58, of Ramwells Brow, Bromley Cross, said she had repeatedly tried to ring the depot to ask if her parcel, jewelery for a relative, could be re-delivered, but that she could not get through.

After queueing in the rain today lunchtime, she tired of the wait and gave up.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "In recent weeks, there has been an unusually high number of parcels returned to the delivery office at Calvin Street in Bolton because no-one was in to receive them.

"As a result there has been a longer than usual queue for customers who have been collecting their parcels.

"We are concerned about the current situation with waiting times, which is unacceptable, and we apologise to customers affected.

"We are doing everything we can to resolve this and we are also using extra staff to deal with enquiries in the office andextra drivers to attempt to re-deliver parcels."

A special answering machine hotline has been set up so customers can leave a message to arrange for their parcels to be re-delivered. The number is 01204 517758 Customers can also arrange to have their parcel delivered to their nearest Post Office for a charge of 50p.

From December 5, the office will also open later than usual on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with the closing time extended from 5.30pm until 8pm.

The delivery office moved from its former home behind Bolton's main Deansgate post office two and a half years ago .