ROYAL Mail managers have been forced to reopen the Oxford Mail Centre for the second time to cope with the backlog of letters and parcels following a strike by sorting office staff.

Mail posted in the county on Friday was taken to the site, which closed at the end of June, to avoid the Swindon sorting office – where Oxfordshire’s post is now sorted. Up to 1,000 workers there had embarked on the latest in a series of 24-hour stoppages.

Post due to be delivered in Oxford was redistributed as far away as York to be sorted, union officials said.

Communication Workers’ Union Swindon branch secretary Chris Rye said: “There are hundreds of thousands of letters going around in circles.”

Royal Mail spokesman Jaquie Stenson said: “The former Oxford Mail Centre site was used for just a few hours on Friday as a temporary transport hub to help us to keep the mail moving through our network.”

More disruption could be set to follow after union leaders last night met to thrash out what action to take after workers voted in favour of a national strike.

Unless an agreement is reached, notice of a strike could be issued to management as early as today.