So yet again our postal service in Oxfordshire is failing.

Latest figures show that we are the fourth worst in the country for delivering first-class mail, with just 80 per cent arriving next day.

It makes you wonder whether it is worth spending the extra money on a first-class stamp, when letters probably won't get to their destination any quicker than if you posted them second-class.

Royal Mail is getting money by false pretences.

It will slap on an extra charge if you underpay, so why don't we get a rebate when it doesn't do its job properly?

Bosses come up with the usual excuse that the figures are out of date, and that the service has improved since then.

But haven't we heard that argument before?

If they can't deliver now, what is it going to be like when the Oxford Mail Centre closes, and operations move to Swindon?

All our post will be carted down the A420, sorted, then much of it will come back to be delivered.

Royal Mail promises that the switch will bring a better service.

We, and thousands of its customers, have yet to be convinced.