GLUM faces and raised hands signal the beginning of a postal strike that would see 210,000 workers walk out of sorting offices across the UK.

Letters and parcels stacked up in deserted offices as households were starved of their daily delivery for almost seven weeks during the 1971 industrial action.

The strike action came after union leaders became frustrated by negotiations over working practices, increased pay claims and modernisation.

Angry union leaders in York blamed postage concessions given to big firms like Rowntree's and Terry's for poor wages for their members.

York postmen and counter clerks, who were estimated to have lost between £180 and £200 for each week of the January to March strike, came back to more than 100,000 unsorted items.

On their return, employees worked near-Christmas levels of overtime for three weeks around the clock to clear the backlog. Sadly, top priority was given to delivering delayed tax demands.

During the strike, the Evening Press set up a system of collection points at newsagents across North Yorkshire in an innovative move aimed at beating the action.

The threat of strike action didn't deter Christmas card senders, however.

Our picture shows the sorting office in Lendal, which, with Leeman Road, dealt with 2,140,000 letters in 1970.

Updated: 09:54 Friday, April 04, 2003