Latest on the post strike: Action spreads to Cowley; fears of spread across city

The Oxford postal dispute, which has halted mail deliveries to 22,500 homes and businesses, spread this afternoon (Friday).

Deliveries to much of the city are expected to stay suspended until Monday at the earliest and disruption could get worse.

Out: Staff at the main Osney Lane delivery depot in OxfordTwenty-seven drivers at the main sorting office at Cowley walked out and set up a picket line. They were acting in sympathy with colleagues at the Osney Lane delivery depot in central Oxford, who have been on unofficial strike since yesterday.

The dispute has stopped all deliveries to addresses in the OX1 and OX2 post code areas, covering the city centre and north and west Oxford, including Botley.

As the action escalated, there were fears that many more parts of the city could be affected. Many postboxes have not been emptied and some are now full to the brim.

Union officials held a series of meetings with managers at the Osney Lane delivery depot yesterday after 137 workers walked out following a row over working practices.

After both sides failed to reach a compromise by 9pm last night, negotiators from the Communication Workers' Union decided to call it a day.

They returned at 5am today to report the breakdown to members, who voted to stay out and continue their unofficial strike over the weekend. They will not meet again until Monday.

Royal Mail managers remained hopeful that talks would resume today but there seemed little sign of a breakthrough.

The dispute is the latest in a series of confrontations between local postal staff and management over the introduction of the 'New Way Forward' operation brought in last September.

This involved the introduction of a system for advanced sorting and preparation of the next day's post during afternoons.

Tempers flared yesterday when workers were ordered to stop sorting their own rounds and carry out other sorting duties.

When they objected to carrying out the work at the expense of their own rounds, and carried on with their normal duties, they were told they would not be paid.

Mr Mark Malyon, an Oxford CWU representative who was at last night's talks, said today: "Obviously we want to resolve this as soon as possible. We are not being joined by any other colleagues at this time.

"We also apologise to the customers as we are the ones who face them every day of the week.

"It's not our fault; it's a dispute that should have been sorted out locally."

Royal Mail spokesman Mike Dalton, said that further talks were expected to be held with union officials later today but would not predict the likely outcome.

He said: "Effectively, if we had a return to work tomorrow, Saturday is only a one-delivery day, so it wouldn't make a huge difference."

Currently, a day's worth of mail remained undelivered, and Thursday's post was being held back at the mail centre to avoid flooding the sorting office. Special deliveries would be made by managers.

He added: "We apologise for the disruption, but any customers, business or private, who want to go down to the office with some form of identification can collect their mail - the majority of which has already been sorted.

"We are clearing out the higher volume postboxes where we know a lot of mail will be posted, but if anyone sees boxes which are overflowing, they can contact our customer helpline on 08457 740740 and we will make sure they are emptied."

The Royal Mail confirmed that some staff at the main mail centre at Cowley had come out in sympathy with colleagues at Osney Lane.

A spokesman condemned action by Cowley workers as "completely illegal and unofficial". He said: "There is no grievance with the management there."

Meanwhile, John Nash, chairman of Oxford Chamber of Commerce, described the dispute as "a real nuisance" for local businesses.

He said: "They seriously need to sort it. The postal service is not very good at the best of times, but to have a strike is adding insult to injury. It's very destructive for businesses.

"Despite faxes and electronic mail, we still send a lot of post and we heavily depend on it."