Burnham-on-Crouch shoppers have been told to expect delays to deliveries as the Royal Mail experiences disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

The service said it may not be possible for staff to complete all scheduled deliveries due to sickness, Covid and increased demand this festive season.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said in a statement today (Tuesday, 14 December): "Deliveries are operating as normal across most of the country today. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.

"In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as Covid-related self isolation, high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.

"In those cases we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.

"We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.

"We're sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding."

Alongside Burnham, the other areas in Essex affected by the disruption are Chelmsford and Rayleigh.

You can find a breakdown of Covid cases in the Maldon district here.