Pictured: Mountains of post and idle delivery vehicles at Royal Mail depot as staff walk out

These astonishing photographs show the mountains of post and idle delivery vehicles at a Royal Mail depot amid staff walking out on day one of a 48-hour strike.

Aerial shots revealed hundreds of cages containing delivery items neatly lined up at the Filton office in Bristol today.

A total of 10 days of strike action have been planned by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), with over 115,000 members walking out in the run up to Christmas.

Six days of strikes have already taken place and with four days of walk-outs to come, including action on Christmas eve, many fear not getting their deliveries on time.

The Royal Mail insists the scenes are ‘typical for this time of year’, but the CWU have said recent scenes at mail centres are ‘highly unusual’ and ‘chaotic’.

A total of 10 days of strike action have been planned by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), with over 115,000 members walking out in the run up to Christmas

Six days of strikes have already taken place and with four days of walk-outs to come, including action on Christmas eve, many fear not getting their deliveries on time

Aerial shots revealed hundreds of cages containing delivery items neatly lined up at the Filton office in Bristol today

The Royal Mail insists the scenes are ‘typical for this time of year’, but the CWU have said recent scenes at mail centres are ‘highly unusual’ and ‘chaotic’

A CWU spokesman said: ‘Millions of letters and packages are backlogged across the UK as the Christmas mail mounts up.

‘The CWU and postal workers want to save Christmas but Royal Mail must step back from their all out assault on our members jobs, terms and the service they provide.

‘Simon Thompson risks ruining Christmas for millions of people. The ball is in his court.’

The last first class positing date for Christmas has been brought forward to December 16.

The CWU have rejected a pay offer of 7 per cent plus a £500 lump sum, as they claim Royal Mail wants to cut jobs as part of this pact.

Royal Mail is currently losing over £1million per day, and says the potential pay offer is being eaten away by the costs of CWU strikes.

A CWU spokesman said: ‘Millions of letters and packages are backlogged across the UK as the Christmas mail mounts up’

The last first class positing date for Christmas has been brought forward to December 16

The CWU have rejected a pay offer of 7 per cent plus a £500 lump sum, as they claim Royal Mail wants to cut jobs as part of this pact

Royal Mail is currently losing over £1million per day, and says the potential pay offer is being eaten away by the costs of CWU strikes

Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘We are doing all we can to deliver Christmas for our customers and minimise the impact of damaging industrial action’

‘The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country. We apologise to our customers and strongly urge them to post early for Christmas’

‘The pictures show busy mail centres with thousands of parcels moving through our network and this is typical for this time of the year’

‘The sites shown are processing 30,000 parcels an hour so volume moves very quickly through the centres and on to the next stage in their journey’

‘We have been doing a good job of quickly recovering from days of industrial action and have well developed contingency plans in place to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected’

Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘We are doing all we can to deliver Christmas for our customers and minimise the impact of damaging industrial action.

‘The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country. We apologise to our customers and strongly urge them to post early for Christmas.

‘The pictures show busy mail centres with thousands of parcels moving through our network and this is typical for this time of the year. 

‘The sites shown are processing 30,000 parcels an hour so volume moves very quickly through the centres and on to the next stage in their journey.

‘We have been doing a good job of quickly recovering from days of industrial action and have well developed contingency plans in place to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.

‘However, we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce on days the CWU are taking strike action.’