London's post strike chaos as Christmas gifts may be hit

London faces months of postal chaos as Royal Mail workers back a series of national strikes.

The move will cripple the Christmas post service and could mean millions of presents and cards are not delivered.

Unions were expected to announce the national walkout today after a ballot of 120,000 workers.

It comes after a series of localised strikes across the capital as the Communication Workers Union fights plans to cut services and jobs.

With 80 million items of post handled every day, a UK-wide strike would mean a massive and immediate backlog that will take months to clear.

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU, said today he is "very confident" the workforce will vote for strike action.

Royal Mail is seeking massive cost savings as its core parcel and letter business declines by 10 per cent a year — a loss of £170 million.

Today it suffered another blow as Amazon looked set to cancel a contract with Royal Mail worth £25 million, to deliver parcels weighing more than 500g (1.1lb). The online retailer will now use rival service Home Delivery Network.

An estimated 25 million letters and parcels are already piling up in sorting depots after the localised walk-outs and there are fears that the system will not be able to cope with the extra Christmas post.

Paul Tolhurst, Royal Mail operations director, said: "A national strike is going to be damaging. It will hurt our customers." But he said "intensive talks" are now taking place with the CWU and there was still an opportunity to avoid strike action.

"We have stopped our changes for this year," he said. "We have had intensive talks during the last few days and we want to continue talking."

More localised 24-hour strikes will take place tomorrow in Greenford, Nine Elms, Vauxhall East and other areas of north, south and east London.

Business leaders warned the UK walkout would mean "considerable" losses for many firms already suffering from the recession. Dr Helen Hill, policy director of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "Those going on strike need to take on board that they are pushing vital customers into the hands of rival mail providers."

Union bosses will hold off from naming any strike dates to allow talks to continue with Royal Mail this week.

A spokesman for Amazon denied the company had cancelled any long term contracts with Royal Mail but added with the possibility of strike action, they weren working on contingency measures with our other carriers to ensure they could continue to deliver to their customers.