Mountains of around 25 million letters may be piling up during the mail strikes in London, but you can bet these posties had other priorities.
They were seen on an unscheduled break to visit a betting shop.
The men took a 15-minute breather and left their trolleys on the pavement in Earls Court.
Tens of thousands of people face late deliveries after a series of strikes over pay and conditions. Union members have already warned that the backlog of unsorted letters, parcels, bills, and presents is already so large that it could affect the Christmas post.
But yesterday, bemused onlookers saw the three postmen have a bet, before leaving in different directions.
Burim Bytyqi, 43, an artist from Earls Court, said: “The three of them pushed their trolleys up to the shop and one-by-one entered the shop. They came out 15 minutes later and went off, presumably to continue their rounds.
“It's unreasonable that there a strikes going on, and huge backlogs of mail and these three men are just spending their time in betting shops. I think people who saw it were pretty shocked at what was going on.”
The Communication and Workers Union say that 25 million items of post in London alone are caught up in the chaos, with some items stuck in the system for two weeks.
The Royal Mail disputed this figure and said nine million items are affected. It said today it would investigate the betting incident, and added that mail trolleys should not be left unattended without being locked up.
A spokesman said: “The safety of the mail is of the utmost concern to us and we will be urgently investigating any breach of security.”
It is not clear if the postmen were on duty or whether their trolleys contained any mail.
The CWU is balloting its 121,000 members on a proposed national strike. The result of the ballot is due at the end of next week and if a strike goes ahead it is likely to take place either during the last ten days of October or the start of November.
