UPDATE: System crashes at Newbury Post Office

Computer system failure results in long queues at Newbury's central post office in Cheap Street today (Monday)

ANYONE heading for Newbury's central post office in Cheap Street this afternoon (Monday) may want to postpone the trip until problems with a computer system failure have been ironed out.

Long queues started forming at lunchtime today after the computer system crashed.

Royal Mail post management said it was not yet known when the fault was likely to be rectified.

The failure has meant that the cost of sending a parcel is currently having to be manually calculated by clerks.

Several individual stamps are then having to be stuck on parcels to make up the required fee, resulting in delays at the counter.

Cash only is also required, due to the failure, as bank and credit cards cannot be processed.

Management said they were currently unable to confirm the cause of the problem.

UPDATE 4PM

A spokesman for Royal Mail/Post Office Counters, Mike Norman, said the computer system failure was wide ranging, across many parts of the country, but had still not been fully resolved:

"Some offices have come back online - then gone off again," he said.

The fault is affecting most Royal Mail/Post Office Counter services - from buying a stamp, to the issue of car tax, and on what traditionally, is Royal Mail/Post Office Counter's busiest day of the year.