PEOPLE who say they have had just three mail deliveries since the beginning of October are demanding to know why.

Birthday cards, job interview notifications and bills are among the items which have been delayed to more than a hundred homes in the Quarry High Street area since the national postal strike last month.

The finger has been pointed at problems replacing a postman who has been off sick, but residents think a contingency plan should be in place.

Richard Capel, of Quarry High Street, said: "I got one lot of mail on Tuesday and one last week, which was mail going back to October 3.

"I'm waiting to hear about a job interview and I have no idea if anything has been sent or not.

"It has just been totally sporadic and we have all been banging our heads against the wall. I understand our postman has been sick, but they should have had someone to cover the round.

"I'm very aggrieved - we should not have been left like this."

Emma Steane, of Quarry High Street, said no post had arrived for her six-year-old son Joseph's birthday on October 25 - it came nearly a week later.

Imogen Matthews, who works from home, and her neighbour Betty Keeble, had both complained to the Royal Mail and said they were frustrated with its response.

Ms Matthews said: "Tuesday was the first decent amount of post we have had in three weeks and I still do not think it is back to normal.

"When I phoned the sorting office they told me the backlog will not be cleared until Christmas. There are documents put in the post two weeks ago which I still haven't received.

"I do not think it is good enough to say somebody is off sick."

And Jenifer Carpenter, who works for the Open University, said: "I feel very inconvenienced. I went to the bank to ask what would happen if I was unable to pay my credit card bill before the deadline because it had not come in the post. They said I would still be charged."

Royal Mail spokesman Jane Thomas said: "Unfortunately, customers in the Quarry High Street area have experienced some disruption to their service since the union strike because we have had some unforeseen staff absence and we apologise for any inconvenience that has been caused."

She added: "There was no contingency in place because it was unforeseen. We just did the best we could in exceptional circumstances."