DOZENS of postal workers went on strike last night at Worcester's Royal Mail sorting offices in a dispute over hot drinks.

Eighty staff walked out of the processing department of the Wainwright Road offices, in Warndon, for nearly two hours.

According to one worker, the entire night shift made the unanimous decision to walk out at 11.15pm, leaving some households with no post this morning.

"About two years ago, there was a similar dispute. After that, we were allowed to take tea and coffee into the shop floor," said the man, who asked to remain anonymous. "But, last weekend, someone spilled tea over a manager and we've now been told we can't have it in the work area.

"Two workers were suspended and, although they've been reinstated, there's a stalemate situation and the unions are still negotiating with management."

Adrian Booth, spokesman for the Royal Mail, said the incident stemmed from a management decision to stop workers having drinks while working on machines.

The moves was taken to prevent staff having accidents and to prevent spilled drinks damaging machinery.

"The Royal Mail apologises to any of its customers affected by the incident," he said. "We're doing all we can to catch up with deliveries. The second delivery will be very heavy today.

"At the heart of this issue is a sensible attempt to improve the safety of our mail centre for our staff.

"Unfortunately, this got a little out of hand at the implementation stage, so significant steps have been made to take a fresh look at this."