FURIOUS householders across Oxfordshire have hit out at Royal Mail saying their letters and parcels are taking weeks to be delivered.

Last week the Oxford Mail reported that people in Didcot and Wallingford were left without post for weeks because of a shortage of postal workers, but since then the problem has widened in the county.

Householders in Wantage and the surrounding area accused the local Royal Mail office of only delivering post on allocated days.

But one customer, Tom Sutherland, writing on theWantage and Grove community Facebook group, jumped to the defence of the frontline workers, saying: “Wantage is currently short staffed with only nine of the rounds active.

“There are positions that have not been filled after staff have left or were made to retire.

“New trainees are starting this weekend but are hard to train while social distancing is in place.

“Up until recently they have not been able to train using the vans, but this has since been reversed.

“Staff at the Wantage office are working as hard as they can through lockdown, but with a higher amount of post and parcels and limited staff, it is not possible with the amount of hours.

“They are trying their best.”

Complaints from householders in Wallingford and Didcot forced Conservative MP for Wantage, David Johnston, to get in touch with the service.

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It was revealed that in Wallingford the problem was largely caused by staff absence reaching 50 per cent at times, while the depot in Didcot is currently under investigation.

In September, people living on Great Western Park in Didcot criticised Royal Mail for only delivering letters and parcels on certain days. However, the service denied the accusation.