ROYAL MAIL letters are reportedly being held in delivery offices for weeks as staff say some depots prioritise parcels over first-class mail.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) urged authorities to take the issue seriously as the company warned of service disruption to about 100 postcodes due to storms and workers being off sick today.

Postal workers have told the BBC that people are missing urgent mail such as appointment notices and bank statements as parcels were being prioritised over letters in some depots, even if they are first class.

It is understood that Royal Mail will opt to clear parcels first if they build up quickly and block walkways in delivery offices.

A CWU spokesperson said: “Years of chronic underinvestment have brought Royal Mail to the chaotic place it is in today.

“Despite unprecedented workloads, your local postal workers are doing everything they can to keep our country connected.

“They are just as fed up as customers at the declining service, and we urge all relevant authorities to start taking these problems seriously, so that Britain gets the postal service it deserves.”

Regulator Ofcom gave the go-ahead last year for Royal Mail to scrap second-class letter deliveries on Saturdays and change the service to every other weekday.

It launched the changes across 35 delivery offices as a pilot, but has yet to expand this nationwide across all 1,200 sites due to failing to reach agreement with the staff union.

It is in the middle of a month-long dispute resolution process with the CWU with the aim of reaching an agreement over how the workforce will be impacted by the overhaul.