More than 100 postal workers in Somerset staged a wildcat walkout yesterday in a row over the suspension of two colleagues and threatened cuts.

Employees at the Bridgwater Delivery Office, one of the biggest in the West, took to the picket line in a bid to force a rethink on the issue by Royal Mail.

The row centres on allegations facing two members of delivery staff – one has been accused of intimidation by a colleague and the other is subject to a customer complaint.

But workers are also fearful of plans to cut 240 hours of work from the Bridgwater team, leaving many out of pocket or working part-time.

Phil Greenslade, who represents the Communication Workers Union for the Bridgwater branch, said the workforce was not comfortable with the way the individuals had been treated. He added that morale over yet more possible cuts to services was extremely low.

He said: “People are not happy with the way these investigations are being carried out and we feel Royal Mail is taking a very heavy-handed approach.

“We feel they are trying to get rid of people unnecessarily and however they can.

“These allegations have not been proven, we do not agree with what they have been accused of and this could all have been dealt with internally before the option of suspending the two postmen on full pay was taken.”

The protest was over almost as soon as it had begun, with staff returning to work after an hour-and-a-half, but the union will now seek a ballot for strike action.

Mr Greenslade said workers were anxious about the branch managers’ business plan which proposes the future cuts.

He said: “We have been through so many rounds of this already and this will mean work being taken away from people and others going part-time. They are not filling vacancies at the moment so it means we all have to work harder for less.”

Dave Wilshire, CWU Bristol and District branch secretary, added that the union had taken the steps to strike because it felt the suspensions marked a heavy-handed approach to discipline.

He said: “We hope Royal Mail will ensure there is a quick and fair investigation and make sure the disciplinary process isn’t used in a punitive and excessive manner.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Staff at the Royal Mail Bridgwater Delivery Office took unofficial industrial action for just over an hour this morning following the suspension of two delivery staff at the site. We are confident deliveries will be completed although customers will receive mail later than normal and Royal Mail apologises for any inconvenience caused.

“The stoppage followed the precautionary suspension, on full pay, of two Royal Mail Bridgwater employees.

“One suspension followed a serious complaint from a customer, the other a report of intimidation by a postman involving one of his colleagues.

“Royal Mail is duty-bound to investigate when allegations of this nature are received and has robust procedures in place, agreed with the Communication Workers Union, to deal with such matters.

“Royal Mail would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by this unofficial industrial action and assure them that we are doing everything possible to restore services to normalas soon as possible.”

Staff had pledged to work late yesterday to clear the backlog of mail and extra managers had been drafted in.

In reference to the proposed cuts, the Royal Mail spokesman added: “Any changes at the delivery office are subject to the conclusion of the ongoing national talks on the modernisation of Royal Mail, which would then be subject to local negotiation before they could be implemented at Bridgwater.”