POSTAL workers in East Lancashire were today starting to clear a backlog of mail after wildcat strikes were called off.

An estimated one million letters and packages destined for homes and businesses in the area are trapped at Preston where 900 workers joined the dispute on Tuesday.

Even though postal workers across East Lancashire have turned up for duty all week, they have had very little mail to deliver.

A Royal Mail spokesperson today assured customers that the backlog would be cleared as soon as possible.

"Workers at the Preston mail centre returned to work this morning and have already started on the mail that has mounted up," she said.

"It is too early to say when we will have cleared the backlog, but we would hope to have services back to normal by early next week."

East Lancashire's postal problems were caused by the walk-out of the 900 staff at the giant mail centre in Preston.

All mail to and from the area is routed through Preston which handles an average of one million items of post every day.

The unofficial dispute began in Watford where mail staff objected to new working conditions. It quickly spread to other centres and by Thursday, more than 15,000 workers were on strike, paralysing deliveries across the UK.

The end of the strike will be welcomed by business leaders who had warned that companies would soon start to struggle from an extended dispute.

Valerie Miles of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce said businesses could soon suffer from cash flow problems.

"All business relies on information and despite the emergence of new technology with facsimile transmission and e-mail, many companies still rely on mail," she said.