The threatened Royal Mail strike has been called off. The news was given at a press conference held in the Cheam Post Office this morning.
Speaking to journalists, Adam Dozy, the Royal Mail's chief executive, said that unions had no option but to call off the strike.
He said that the rules surrounding notice for strike action says that a strike ballot will take 14 days and management needs a seven-day notice period before any strike action can be taken.
While the ballot was held on time, Mr Dozy confirmed that the notices, which were sent by first class mail, appear to have been lost in the post, and so have subsequently missed the seven-day deadline.
Mr Dozy said that it is vitally important that people requiring guaranteed delivery of their postal items should use next-day recorded delivery, something the union had plainly not done.
It was not the responsibility of Royal Mail that the strike notices were lost in the post.