THE delivery of post around the town has been severely hit after it was revealed more than 20 Redditch postmen are off sick.

A flu-type virus is sweeping the Fishing Line sorting office and Royal Mail has been forced to draft in casual labour from employment agencies to ease the situation.

A Royal Mail spokesman said sickness levels were the worst there had been and staff on annual leave was adding to the problem.

"There were 21 people who called in sick on Thursday, 23 on Friday and 22 on Saturday. We have been losing a lot of postmen. And to add to the problem on Saturday, we had a power failure," the spokesman said.

A total of 160 staff work at the sorting office and 18 rounds have been affected, the worst hit areas being Church Hill, Woodrow and Holt End, Beoley.

The spokesman said: "We apologise for any inconvenience but to an extent the problem is out of our hands, we are doing everything we can and we have taken on casual staff. They are outside people but have been fully vetted."

Post was not delivered for several days in Beoley but the spokesman said deliveries were made everywhere else - but only one delivery was made or it was later.

He added: "Staff working overtime to cover their colleagues' sickness have been magnificent."