ANOTHER 24-hour mail strike is due to hit Oxfordshire homes and businesses this week.

Lorry drivers working out of the Swindon depot, which now serves the county, will stop work from 4am on Wednesday, adding to the backlog of hundreds of thousands of mail which has built up in a succession of stoppages in recent weeks.

It will be followed by a national ballot for strike action which will open on Thursday.

Dermot Fuller, Swindon area representative with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “Even with the previous stoppages, we have been struggling to cope with the backlog.

“There are hundreds of thousands of items of mail waiting to be delivered.”

Mr Fuller added he would be urging his membership to vote in favour of strike action in the national ballot. As reported in the Oxford Mail last week, the Oxfordshire branch will also be recommending a ‘yes’ vote.

He added: “We have had no pay rise this year from an organisation that made record profits, and people are having to work weekends with no extra pay which is having an impact on their lives and childcare.”

It is understood the number of 24 hour strikes which have hit sorting offices and truck deliveries across the country, will be cut dramatically during the national ballot which will last for three weeks.

Royal Mail spokesman Jaquie Stenson said: “We have contingency arrangements in place, including the use of managers to minimise any impact the industrial action may have and to return service to normal as quickly as possible.

“More than 90 per cent of our people are working normally delivering mail across the country — and we are again urging the CWU to stop hurting customers, call off their strikes and provide customers with the service they need and expect from Royal Mail.”