Post Office workers across Britain have hit picket lines again, marking their twelfth walkout this year against planned cuts and closures.

Around 4,000 counter staff at Crown Post Offices joined the strikes against hundreds of looming job losses, a three-year pay freeze and the continued sell-off of branches to franchisees as part of management cost-cutting.

Fury has grown as the state-owned company's chief executive Paula Vennells has seen her total pay soar by a full 50 per cent in a single year to a basic salary of £250,000, £62,500 in lieu of pension and bonuses worth £375,000.

Ms Vennell's pay package adds up to nearly half a million pounds in total - more than 23 times the average pay of a counter clerk.

Union CWU's North and East of Scotland area representative David McCloy told the Morning Star his members had known from the start that it would be "a slog."

Even so, the dispute was running longer than they had expected.

But Mr McCloy said CWU officers were determined to keep up morale.

"The Post Office certainly thought they would've broken us by now," he said.

"It's a credit to the members - they're asking if we're getting anywhere.

"But at the end of the day it's about keeping their jobs and their pensions; their future."

Post Office bosses could now find themselves forced back to the negotiating table amid a Royal Mail strike ballot and with the annual Christmas rush looming, Mr McCloy added.

More than 70 offices are slated for closure, with up to 1,500 jobs at risk.