POST Office bosses have been criticised after a Winewall resident received his post -- just in time for tea.

Brian Jackson, of Duke Street, had been waiting to receive an important letter on Wednesday morning.

But, instead of dropping through his letter box at breakfast time, it arrived at 4.15pm.

Brian said: "It's not the first post, it's the last post, and if I had a trumpet I'd play it. Post at 4.15pm is absurdly late.

"We used to get two posts, but the Post Office amalgamated them into one and it's become increasingly unreliable ever since.

"The post used to turn up between 8am and 9am. A couple of times last week it turned up at midday, twice it was after 1pm, and on Tuesday it came at 2.30pm.

"But 4.15pm is a record. I think they should get the Olympic gold medal for lateness. It's getting silly."

Brian had been waiting for a payment slip to pay his telephone bill, but the post arrived 15 minutes after the bank had shut.

He said: "If I had been waiting for an important Giro cheque, or was running a business, getting the post could be crucial.

"We've lost the local post office because they said it was uneconomic. We've no idea when the post is going to come any more. It's not the postman, he always does a fine job, it's the system."

A Post Office spokeswoman said staff sickness was to blame and the company had fulfilled its obligations by delivering letters on the day.

She said: "A lot of people from Pendle delivery office were off sick, so contingency arrangements were made to make sure people got mail delivered. We did deliver all the mail and normal service has now resumed."