Industrial action by postmen means more than 100 blind people will not receive their voice recorded version of the Watford Observer this week.

A band of volunteers has gathered for more than 20 years to record the newspaper onto tapes ready to post out to 140 people as each Thursday night.

However, with strikes last week and this, the tapes, called the Watford and District Newspaper for the Blind, have not been posted back to make further recordings.

Ged Mealor is one of three technicians and collects the pages from the Watford Observer offices each week.

He said: “We managed to get 55 tapes back last week and this week has been even worse so we cannot do the recording.

“It means they will be missing out on local news. “When we tape the Watford Observer we make it for the relevant areas in Watford and the surrounding districts where they live. They will miss that.

“We hope that it will be back to normal next week.”

Postal workers in Watford began a second wave of strike action this morning after last ditch talks with the Royal Mail broke down.

Communication Workers Union (CWU) members at the Ascot Road sorting office in Watford walked out at 4am for the second time in a week.

Further disruption is expected tomorrow and on Saturday when delivery staff join the strike at Royal Mail offices across the district.