RELIEVED residents in a street that wasn't getting its post until tea time are enjoying picking their Christmas cards off the doormat in the morning once again.

Householders in Cookson Place, South Stanley, complained for months that their mail was not arriving until late afternoon on a regular basis.

It followed changes to the system when the Royal Mail dropped the second post in March and staff shortages in Derwentside.

But normal service was resumed last week and residents now expect to hear the mail drop before lunch time.

Harry Dickson, 38, a former postman, said: "It had got beyond a joke. We were not getting our mail until 4pm most days - and some days it was even later. We complained and they kept telling us there was nothing they could do."

His wife, Viki, who is expecting their second child, also missed two hospital appointments, because the letters turned up after the actual date she was supposed to attend.

Mr Dickson, who now works as a taxi driver, said: "We got a letter asking why she had not gone for her physiotherapy, then got the actual appointment card two days later.

"Some people on the street are on benefits and they were not getting their cheques until well into the afternoon. This is no good when your post office closes at 12.30pm."

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said: "We do accept that, following introduction of single delivery in March, there may have been the odd occasion when mail has been delivered in Cookson Place late in the afternoon and we apologise for that.

"However, the new system has been modified and for the last two weeks, Cookson Place has had a regular postman who is known to finish by 1pm."