THE latest postal strike is affecting Worcester businesses as post workers vote to stage another walkout.

Talks between Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union have failed to reach an agreement, leading to further strike action next week.

Post is being collected from local post offices, but firms that rely on a direct Royal Mail collection are seeing a mounting backlog.

One business bearing the brunt of the strike is PCS Advantage, on the Blackpole Trading Estate, Worcester, which prints and distributes letters for charities and businesses.

Every day, a Royal Mail lorry arrives at the warehouse to collect its crates of letters, but since the strikes the letters have been piling up and are now stacked to the ceiling.

Martin Johnson, aged 50, client services manager for PCS Advantage, said: "If we had another three days of striking we would have to think about renting additional storage space, and then there is the issue of who is going to pay for that. We now have enough post stored in the warehouse to fill three 40ft Royal Mail lorries."

Postal workers are striking over what they term "unacceptable pensions" and modernisation proposals which would see an introduction of flexible working systems.

On the picket line at the mail centre in Wainwright Road, Warndon, the mood had not been dampened by yesterday's rain.

Night sorter Del Pitman, aged 57, from Blackpole, Worcester, said: "The issue of pensions is the worst thing of the lot because it affects the whole system.

"I have worked here for 28 years and I have been happy working here but I do feel now that after 28 years I should not have my pension taken away from me."

This week's strike officially finished in the early hours of this morning (and workers will be back at the mail centre clearing the backlog of letters and parcels). However, further strike action will start at 6pm on Monday, October 15, and finish on Wednesday, October 17.

This means there will be no deliveries or collection in the Worcester area on Tuesday, October 16, and no deliveries on Wednesday, October 17.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "We would ask our customers to avoid posting mail during the strikes and if they do so, then to post any mail at post office branches, which will be open for business as usual."