ROYAL Mail staff could go on strike in a bid to prevent the Oxford Mail Centre from closing, union bosses warned last night.

The Communication Workers' Union said about 430 postal workers received final confirmation that the city's main sorting office would close when the company shifts the operation to Swindon.

Staff at the office in Cowley were briefed by senior Royal Mail bosses about the closure on Friday, more than seven months after the move to the £20m facility was suggested.

Building work at the new site is expected to be finished this summer, with the full transfer from Oxford completed by summer 2009.

But Bob Cullen, a spokesman for the Oxfordshire branch of the CWU, said: "Staff are angry and upset by this decision because it will mean job losses for Oxfordshire - very few staff will want to transfer to Swindon.

"It will also mean the quality of the mail service is reduced because if you post a letter from Headington to East Oxford, it will have to go to Swindon first to be sorted and then come back to Oxford and that is a nonsense.

"The decision to close the mail centre is a way of lashing out at the CWU nationally and locally, and we will do everything we can to get Royal Mail bosses to change their minds - that could include strike action."

Mr Cullen said the CWU Oxfordshire branch would meet on June 1 to discuss how to contest the closure.

He added: "Going on strike would be a last resort, but it's always an option.

"We want to reverse this decision and we will get everyone involved, including our membership nationally and our local MP."

Royal Mail, however, denied the switch would lead to a second-class postal service for Oxford.

Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall said: "Delivery and collection operations across the Swindon and Oxford postcode areas will not be affected as a result of this change.

"We believe moving work from Oxford to our extended facility in Swindon, which will be equipped with the latest technologies, will enable us to address an urgent need to improve the reliability of the mail services for our customers in the OX postcode area."