The Royal Mail has warned there may be postal delays as it introduces a system this week to tackle problems which have plagued the post in the last year (Oct 3).

Customers in Wycombe district have suffered a catalogue of problems with the post over the past 12 months, including a strike in January last year.

The Bucks Free Press launched an investigation into the service and found that post sent from High Wycombe reached Yorkshire more quickly than a letter reached another High Wycombe home, despite being posted at the same time.

The Royal Mail has introduced what it hopes are more efficient rounds. Staff began delivering on the shorter routes yesterday but people have been warned to expect glitches in the new system.

The organisation has also taken on 50 new employees, mainly delivery staff, in the last three months to reach their target and get mail to urban addresses by 9.30am and rural homes by 2pm.

There have been £1.2 million of improvements to the High Wycombe delivery office in Queen Victoria Road and £4 million at new offices at the Merlin Centre, Lancaster Road, Cressex Business Park.

The 240 staff have also seen better equipment installed such as new sorting frames and have seen an improvement to pay and conditions.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said: "We are revising all the delivery rounds to enable us to consistently deliver by our specific time. It is excellent news for High Wycombe in terms of new jobs and the amount of money being invested.

"We recognise the importance of deliveries in High Wycombe and therefore we have invested heavily to ensure our customers receive the service that we know that they expect.

"We are bringing about these changes as part of a UK programme. Customers may find a slight disruption in the service we provide as they all get used to new procedures.

"The amount of mail has doubled in the last ten years. We now deal with 80 million items a day across the UK."