Postal workers in Watford have voted for an investigation into the “disgraceful” treatment of staff at the town's sorting office, with the possibility of strike action looming on the horizon.

Members of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) gathered for an emergency branch meeting outside the gates of the Ascot Road depot this morning, where they unanimously backed a motion for an industrial relations (IR) review.

The motion stated that a review was needed to investigate allegations of members being “threatened and bullied on a daily basis by the tactics of the management regime”.

The motion was agreed and the review, conducted by the CWU Branch Secretary and Divisional Representatives, is set to begin next week, following meetings with Royal Mail management today.

Should the review not reach a satisfactory conclusion on or before January 9, Branch Secretary Alan Walsh has been instructed to apply to Union headquarters to ballot members on strike action.

Residents and small businesses have complained about the town's postal service since a new delivery system, Pegasus, was implemented on September 1.

Royal Mail's cost-cutting plan reduced the number of rounds, creating a backlog of mail and leaving residents and businesses frustrated from inconsistent deliveries.

And this morning's 10-minute meeting followed, but was not a result of, Watford MP Claire Ward's scathing attack on the town's postal service, which she described as “not fit for purpose”.

Mr Walsh said: “This calls not for industrial action but for full independent review between now and January 9. If the review does not conclude to our members' satisfaction, I am minded by you to apply for an action ballot.

“Industrial relation reviews don't take five minutes. We can do it before Christmas but we've got to look at the amount of public support we'll lose if we do take action before Christmas.

“This is not an attack on the public by trying to disrupt Christmas mail. We have been reasonable and sensible all the way through. Hopefully we can get this concluded before Christmas.”

Mr Walsh said residents were “suffering enough” since Pegasus “ruined” the postal service, but that industrial action would only be taken as a last resort.

He added: “It's not the staff. They've been delivering letters in Watford for over 20 years so what's gone wrong now? We've got a good football team and great players but are led by poor managers. “We don't want to disrupt the service over Christmas. It's disrupted enough. The idea is to get the service back on track. If the review goes to January 9, it means it's not gone too well.

“We don't want to take action unless it really is the last straw.”

A Royal Mail representative said: "At Watford and elsewhere, Royal Mail has a zero tolerance policy against any instances of bullying by anyone in the organisation. We are committed to running our operation in a flexible and efficient way to ensure customers' mail is delivered on time and without unnecessary delay."

Watford's postal service was crippled by industrial action held last autumn over changes to working practices at the depot, which led to a backlog of hundreds of thousands of items.