Two postmen have lost their unfair dismissal claim after failing to deliver mail during paid overtime.

Now Gary Quick, 33, and David Chand, 26, are considering appealing against yesterday's unanimous decision by an Employment Tribunal.

They say they were told not to go out on their second delivery and are disgusted that the tribunal in Reading ruled against them.

Mr Chand, of Cowley, said after the two-day hearing: "I still don't think they took our points into consideration.

"They believed the big company against a couple of small employees. I know we've been unfairly dismissed but there's nothing we can do."

The pair agreed to do overtime on February 10 this year to cover the round of another postman who did not turn up for work. They were given an extra three-and-a-half hours paid overtime to do that job and their usual second delivery but left more than an hour early - leaving undelivered post at the east Oxford delivery office in Sandy Lane West, Blackbird Leys.

Mr Chand told Mr Quick their line manager Julie Pringle gave him an instruction not to take the post out, but the Post Office claimed they were lying.

They were sacked a month later for wilfully delaying mail after a disciplinary hearing. They also lost an internal appeal against the dismissal.

Mr Quick, of Blackbird Leys, said: "I thought we would get justice. Dave would not have jeopardised my job by telling me to leave it.

"I will now seek advice from my lawyer."

Tribunal chairman John Hollow said: "It's an unhappy conclusion that we have reached since plainly they were both long-serving postal workers whose service has been brought to an end on an unhappy note."

Kevin Oakley, area operations manager for Oxford, said: "We always take allegations of wilful delay extremely seriously."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.