People in north Oxford fear they may be excluded from Thursday's General Election after their postal ballot forms failed to arrive.

A number of people living in Cutteslowe applied to vote by post, but have yet to see the ballot papers delivered.

Returning officers at the Vale of White Horse District Council, who are responsible for sending out ballot papers in that area of the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency, say the papers were sent out last Tuesday.

The officers have told concerned residents that there must be a problem with the post, but the Royal Mail has insisted everything sent through the post had been delivered.

On Saturday, election officer Nigel Butler took the unusual step of opening up Abingdon's Guildhall for those able to pick up their papers in person.

Resident Cynthia Hall, whose husband Anthony registered for a postal vote because he works as a software programmer in Bath, said this defeated the object as many had ordered postal forms because they were housebound or away from home.

Mrs Hall, of Hayward Road, said: "This is very serious because people in north Oxford are being disenfranchised.

"There's a lot of people who can't vote normally through work or because they are disabled, and it is monstrous that this could happen."

Mrs Hall said she had spoken to a number of people in Cutteslowe who had also yet to see their General Election ballot papers.

Ballot papers for the county council election are dealt with separately by Oxford City Council, and these have arrived.

Mrs Hall said when she contacted the Vale of White Horse, she was told all papers had been sent out by 4pm on Tuesday.

The Royal Mail has denied it has caused the problem. Spokesman Floyd Jebson said: "There is absolutely no problem or backlog at either Royal Mail House in Oseney Lane or the Cowley sorting office. We have delivered everything we have got."

Returning officer Brian Smith said today it was unclear how many ballot papers had gone missing.

He said: "We issued them to the Royal Mail, but they haven't been delivered.

"They say that everything has been cleared, but the evidence coming our way is different."