UNION bosses claim that 30,000 items of first class post have been deliberately delayed because Royal Mail management stopped all second deliveries in Bolton. Ian Young of the Bolton and Bury Branch of the Communication Workers' Union said the Royal Mail was telling the public that delays were the result of a backlog from last Thursday's strike. But Mr Young claims that for the past two days local delivery managers instructed postal workers in Bolton to do one delivery instead of the usual two.

He said: "The Post Office is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Bolton by deliberately delaying up to 30,000 first class items of mail.

"The Post Office are telling callers to the Customer Care unit that it is because of the backlog caused by the last day of industrial action. This is not the case - at least 20,000 of these items could and should have been delivered in the second delivery."

Mr Young added that postal workers have been finishing work three hours early after being instructed by management not to do a second delivery.

A Royal Mail spokesman was aware of the union's claims.

However she said that it was a fact that the delays in service were caused by the strike backlog.

She said: "Management are trying to restore services as quickly as possible.

"Postal workers have been implementing a service called 'once over the ground' which means they do one large delivery a little later in the morning to get more mail delivered.

"Spending more time in the sorting office and delivering larger numbers of post is the most efficient way of getting through any backlog."

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