The first of two UK postal strikes will start on Thursday ( Oct 4th) at noon and thats going to hit services going off the island, although Manx staff are not involved.

The two 48-hour all-out strikes are planned by the Communication Workers Union commencing at noon tomorrow (Thursday) ending noon on Saturday (October 6) with the second strike coming into effect at 3am on Monday (October 8) through to 3am on Wednesday (October 10).

"There is going to be serious disruption to all letter services to the UK from tomorrow until the middle of next week. Similarly inbound mail to the Island will also be affected. Royal Mail will give priority to supporting the Special Delivery service during the industrial action with the resources available to them. However, the normal guarantees for Special Delivery will be suspended from tomorrow until further notice. Customers are strongly advised to use Parcelforce’s guaranteed services for any urgent items. (Parcelforce employees will not be involved in the industrial action). Royal Mail will endeavour to support other services as resources permit. Local to local mail will remain unaffected".

The action is over a pay dispute.