ROYAL Mail last night could not guarantee hundreds of thousands of letters and parcels would be delivered in Oxfordshire before postal workers next go on strike.

Nearly 1,000 postal workers in the county refused to work yesterday in a protest over pay and working conditions.

Staff are due back on work today, but last night Royal Mail was unable to guarantee the backlog of post would reach homes and firms before union members down tools again on Thursday.

Paul Garraway, branch secretary of the Oxfordshire Communication Workers Union, said: “We need to step it up and arrange a plan of action right through to Christmas so management will listen and the Government can get involved.

“Now is the time to bite the bullet. We can’t afford not to.”

Mr Garraway said about 95 per cent of the county’s 1,000 postal workers in 15 offices – including Ledgers Close in East Oxford, Abingdon, Bicester, Banbury and Chipping Norton – went out on strike.

At Royal Mail House, off Oxpens Road, Oxford, about 30 staff were demonstrating.

Worker Steve Gill said: “Staff are being given extra workloads, or having their jobs changed on a daily basis, without any extra money.

“We are not being allowed to do our job.”

The Oxfordshire day of action followed Thursday’s 24-hour strike at the Swindon sorting office, which now handles the county’s mail.

Three days of action are planned on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which will also affect the county.

Last night, some businesses said they had lost patience and taken their custom elsewhere.

Caroline Taylor, of baby clothes wholesaler Merry-Go-Round, based in Adderbury, said: “We have changed all deliveries of our current orders to couriers.

“We will continue with this method until there is no chance of our orders being delayed and will not return all our business to Royal Mail even when the situation is resolved.”

Karen Stevens, accounts manager at printing firm Parchment in Cowley, added: “Customers post books and cheques to us and we post them out and they all get caught in the backlog.

“There is not an alternative for everyday letters.

“We already go and collect our post from the depot in the morning as it would otherwise take until lunchtime for it to be delivered.

“If this lasts until Christmas, the impact could be huge.”

The strikes could also hit people yet to return their self-assessment tax forms by October 31.

Christina Nawrocki, of Oxford-based Wellers Acc- ountants, said: “We strongly advise businesses to hand-deliver returns to their local Revenue & Customs office to ensure they arrive on time and avoid the £100 late return penalty.”

Oxford High Street Association spokesman Graham Jones, which represents up to 100 traders, said: “The CWU needs clever people at the top if it wants to outsmart management by getting people on its side.

“Sadly it has done the opposite, and if a lot of businesses switch to couriers it will push up the price of a stamp.”

Last night, Royal Mail said it would do “everything possible” to clear the backlog before Thursday, which it said ran into “hundreds of thousands” of items of post.

Managing director Mark Higson said: “Any pretence from the CWU that it cares about customers or about the future of the postal service is dishonest.

“The CWU leadership has failed to honour the agreement we both negotiated on Tuesday that would have averted this week’s strikes, ensured no further strikes until the end of the year, and given both parties a period of calm for further talks and to give customers the service they deserve between now and Christmas.”