Hundreds of people have allegedly not been receiving their post because of staff shortages at the Royal Mail’s delivery office in Watford.

It was alleged that 15 routes across areas including Watford and South Oxhey were not covered today.

One man said he had not received any mail since last Thursday, and it has been claimed that the problem has been ongoing for a number of weeks now.

Some of the routes affected include: Ridge Lane, Scammell Way, Brightwell Road, The Byewaters, Sydney Road, Foxleys, Carpenders Avenue and Gosforth Lane.

Another person, who wished to remain anonymous, said posties had been forced to take on extra walks in recent weeks because of a lack of staff.

“Royal Mail let too many people go,” they said.

“People are sick and there’s no cover, people have been let go on ill health retirement.

“The way they are treated, now people are thinking ‘I don’t want to do any overtime’.”

Royal Mail said in a statement: “We would like to apologise to any customers in parts of Watford who may not recently have received the first class service we aim to provide to all our customers.  

"This has been due to temporary staff shortages in the office. We are working very hard to resolve the issue as quickly as we possibly can, including recruiting new staff.

"We are committed to delivering a high quality of service to all our customers in Watford and our focus is to restore our service to the high standards our customers would normally receive."