MORE than two million undelivered items of post are sitting in a mail centre in east London, as the chaos caused by the ongoing industrial dispute shows no sign of ending.
The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) is involved in a dispute with Royal Mail about job losses and changes to pay and conditions.
Tomorrow postal workers all over the country will go stage a 24-hour walk out and 40,000 CWU members will protest outside the Labour Party conference venue in Brighton.
The situation in east London is particularly chaotic as Royal Mail is refusing to allow the mail centre in Bromley-by-Bow, which sorts mail for Waltham Forest, to process items.
An exclusive picture taken inside the sorting centre, shows row after row of trolleys containing undelivered mail.
Letters and packages are being driven to other centres in the UK, but these now have backlogs of their own, meaning many are no longer able to sort the east London post.
John Ayres, CWU East London area distribution representative, said: “The situation has deteriorated, it is a complete mess.
“Even if we get an agreement soon it will take a month to clear the backlog.”
Mr Ayres apologised for the delays to services caused by the strike, but said the CWU is trying to protect the postal service.
He added union members are not opposed to modernisation but are angry at not being consulted about changes.
Paul Tolhurst, Royal Mail's operations director, last month slammed the CWU, saying its “determination to damage services” was increasing.
Mr Tolhrust said Royal Mail has acted in a fair and reasonable way in its modernisation.
A ballot of CWU members, asking whether they support a national strike, closes on October 8.