FIRST and second deliveries of the mail in Chiswick are to be amalgamated into a single, daily delivery, the Royal Mail confirmed this week.

Customers will receive all their post in a single delivery for the day by around lunchtime at the latest. Most mail, according to the Royal Mail, will be delivered well before this, with deliveries starting from 10am. For some customers there will be little or no change to their current delivery times.

Customers who want their mail early in the day will be able to collect their mail from the delivery office on request - a new, free service from 8.30am. Customers should apply in advance so that the security of the mail is protected. Application forms are available at the delivery office at 1 Heathfield Terrace.

The changes will result in a reduction of seven posts from the current 81 - though this will be covered through not filling vacancies, rather than redundancies.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Second deliveries account for 20 per cent of Royal Mail's costs but represent just four per cent of the daily mailbay. So it makes sense to combine first and second deliveries. The changes will help safeguard Royal Mail's six day a week universal service to all 27 million addresses in the UK.

"Royal Mail employs around 80,000 people in its delivery operation so any reduction in jobs nationwide through the introduction of single delivery is manageable," said the spokesman.

Many residents, asked by the Times for their reaction to the news, said that they were unaware that the area had two separate posts anyway, so irregular has the service become.