POSTAL workers in Worcester and Hereford are failing to hit targets for delivering first-class mail the next day, new figures have revealed.

Only 90.3 per cent of letters and parcels bound for areas with a WR postcode were delivered the following day in the three month period from April to June.

For the Hereford HR postcode it was 87 per cent.

Both fall short of the target of 92.5 per cent set by Consignia, the new name for the Royal Mail which has announced a £1.2bn cost-cutting package which could mean up to 20,000 job losses nationally.

The figures were revealed in a Parliamentary answer as Consignia was attacked for planning to scrap 8am collections from thousands of post boxes.

The company is carrying out a nationwide survey to identify boxes where there is little post to pick up early in the morning.

But it has denied that the new policy will make it even more difficult for post to be delivered elsewhere in the country by the next day.

"There will be no delay to the mail,"said a spoeksman for Consignia.