A postal system in chaos is causing delivery people to leave the service at Eastleigh,Winchester and Southampton.

The trouble, according to the Communications Workers' Union, is that it has not been thought through and it puts a great workload on postmen and women.

The situation at Winchester is so bad that there is to be a review of how the system is working.

Post was not delivered to the Hampshire Chronicle office until 4.45 pm on Friday and 4pm on Monday.

But, on Wednesday, it arrived at its usual time - about 9am.

Royal Mail spokesman, Dan Panes, said: "We know that there have been some teething problems with the new single daily delivery.

"Some mail may be getting to people later than anticipated. But we cannot match the times you gave for the Hampshire Chronicle delivery to what we have been told by people working on the ground.We cannot find anything as late as 4pm.

"All mail in Winchester is being delivered by 1pm. We have had no calls to the helpline about late deliveries. Delivery officers on the ground are adamant that the mail went out only slightly later than we would have hoped.

"We encourage anyone with problems to ring our helpline, 08457-740740."

Mr Panes added: "I am not saying that the times you quote are rubbish, but we can't find anyone to back them up. We are confused as to how it has managed to happen. Our guys on the spot are saying there is no reason that mail should be arriving at 4pm."

A union representative said the new deliveries had not "settled in". They had been started at the end of the financial year - a time when mail was at its heaviest.

"Deliveries are longer and larger than they used to be because of the decision to cut the number of staff.

"With one delivery a day, postmen are out delivering more. Deliveries are heavier and take longer and there have been big changes to sortation.

"There is going to be a review at Winchester because we have had loads of staff leaving. Management have not got it right. People have left at Eastleigh, Winchester and Southampton.

"You can only do so much work. They don't get meal breaks, so that's going to bring on real fatigue. There is pressure by management."

Anthony Peterson, whose chartered surveyors firm is based in Tower Street, said: "The postal delivery has caused me to run a less efficient business. I now expect my post to arrive around 10.30am, when it used to arrive before 8.30am.

"I would be allowed to collect my mail from the sorting office after 8.30am, which is not a practical option, or a timed delivery service is available at a cost of £2,661 per annum."

Stuart Mariner, of Martin and Company, chartered accountants, in St Thomas Street, said: "Over the last month, the post has been erratic. We had a letter from the Post Office about six weeks ago, saying deliveries would alter.

For 30 years, we have had our post on or about 8am and that's a wonderful system but that went wrong about three weeks ago when we were getting our post at any time up to midday.

"Although we use e-mail and fax, a business such as ours does rely on the post and a postal service is useless unless it can deliver by 9 am. Mail arriving late morning is not good enough."

Graham Love, city centre manager, said: "Post is an integral part of business life, even with e-mail, and a lot of communication relies on the mail and businesses rely on it being delivered on time."