Packages are seen piling up outside depot and sources say they are being gnawed on by foxes and rats

Piles of undelivered parcels and letters have been seen outside a Royal Mail depot amid strike action with sources saying they are being chewed on by foxes and rats.

Postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are staging a fresh 48-hour national walkout from today, marking their third and fourth of six days of strikes in the run-up to Christmas. 

Royal Mail has brought forward the final posting dates for Christmas cards to December 16 for first class mail and December 21 for special delivery guaranteed. 

CWU officials have now revealed packages piled outside in the elements at the depot in Filton, Bristol, have attracted vermin.

A fox is caught scurrying across the piled up mail and Christmas parcels at the depot in Bristol 

Photos show hundreds of cages packed with undelivered post and there are reports that many of the parcels have been left outside the mail centre for at least 17 hours.

A union member at the site told The Telegraph: ‘The packages have now attracted rats and other animals, including a fox.’

Another local CWU official told the publication: ‘Things are being left out in the open at Bristol Mail Centre and I believe it’s the case that vermin and other animals are having a go.’

They said there have been talks of a tarpaulin to cover the exposed parcels, but added ‘it would have to be the biggest tarpaulin in the world as everything has been ruined’. 

MailOnline has contacted Royal Mail Group for comment. 

Members of the CWU will join picket lines outside sorting and delivery offices across the country in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

The two sides have held talks in recent weeks but the row remains deadlocked. 

A union member at the site told The Telegraph: ‘The packages have now attracted rats and other animals, including a fox’

CWU officials have now revealed packages piled outside in the elements at the depot in Filton, Bristol, have attracted vermin. Pictured: A Cadbury’s package shared on Facebook on December 2 showing an order chewed by rats

Photos show hundreds of cages packed with undelivered post and there are reports that many of the parcels have been left outside the mail centre for at least 17 hours. Pictured: Filton, Bristol

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: ‘Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.

‘Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks.

‘But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families.

‘This can be resolved if Royal Mail begin treating their workers with respect, and meet with the union to resolve this dispute.’

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘The CWU is striking at our busiest time, deliberately holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country.

‘We are doing everything we can to deliver Christmas for our customers, and would like to thank the increasing number of posties returning to work each strike day, temporary workers and managers from across the business who are helping to keep the mail moving.

‘However, this task becomes more challenging as Christmas nears.

‘Three weeks ago, we made a best and final pay offer worth up to 9 per cent over 18 months.

‘Instead of working with us to agree on changes required to fund that offer and get pay into our posties’ pockets, the CWU has announced plans to ballot in the New Year for further strike action.

‘Their misguided belief that further industrial action, in a business already losing more than £1million a day, will result in an improved pay offer is misleading its members and risking their long-term job security.’

It comes as public support for Mick Lynch’s crippling Christmas strikes is draining away – including amongst his own members who will lose up to £5,000.

RMT union boss Mick Lynch (pictured left) with an union official on a picket line outside Euston train station on the second day of rail strikes

A poll showed public support is falling after he ramped up strikes for Christmas

Millions of workers must now work from home – some for the rest of December – due to union barons such as £84,000-a-year Mr Lynch shutting down critical services until January 10.

With a cold snap blasting the country, support for the RMT union boss on the picket lines appears to be dwindling, with a poll revealing support for the rail strikes falling by eight points since October. 

On day two of the RMT’s rail strikes, half of Britain’s rail lines are closed all day, as thousands of members at Network Rail and 14 train operating companies walk out in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. 

Many parts of the country will have no services, including most of Scotland and Wales.

Rail staff have been joined in walkouts by Royal Mail workers, and nurses prepare to take unprecedented industrial action, which experts say puts lives at risk amid claims chemotherapy appointments have been axed as 100,000 medical staff will stay at home tomorrow.

Support for the ongoing industrial action appears to be dwindling, with a Savanta poll revealing more than half of the public (56 per cent) do not support railway strikes during the festive period, compared to a third who said they do.

Public support fell by eight points from +21 in October to just +13 in December, during which time more walkouts were announced.

Union figures obtained by the Telegraph revealing that fewer than 10,000 out of 115,000 workers blocked a 9 per cent pay offer from Network Rail.

Mr Lynch has insisted there is overwhelming support for the industrial action but this could be dwindling. 

The figures show that 9,772 members of the RMT out of the 18,540 who voted opted to reject the 9 per cent pay deal.

Ministers will convene an emergency Cobra meeting for the second time this week over the crisis that will last almost a month. 

Britons had to sacrifice seeing loved ones over the holiday period in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic – but now face having to do the same due to union barons shutting down critical services until January 10.

The wave of strikes billed the ‘December of discontent’ is bringing untold misery on hard-working Britons in the run-up to Christmas.

Business owners say that their festive trading period – one of the busiest throughout the year – is being hit hard by disruption to critical services.

Pip Heywood, managing director at online greeting card company Thortful, said that postal strikes are costing them between £30,000 to £50,000 per day.

The card firm is heavily reliant on Royal Mail, with around 80 per cent of its products being sent out via the postal service.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Heywood said: ‘Each day of the strike is costing Thortful between 30-50k per day, and Christmas trading has been hugely hit.

‘We can see dramatic drops in trade on the days where we’ve had to advise customers of the extended delivery windows, we’ve seen Thortful customer inquiries triple.

‘Luckily our customers know how reliable we usually are but delivery reliability is so much worse than even during Covid now.

‘It means we’ve had to staff up to protect our customers so its not just hitting revenue, its adding cost and also causing brand damage.’

She added: ‘We’re estimating [the strikes] will cost Thortful in the region of £1million.’