Isle of Man Saturday letter deliveries to end next month

Regular Saturday letter deliveries on the Isle of Man will end on 19 October, the post office has confirmed.

Deliveries are being cut from six days a week to five in a cost-saving measure approved by politicians in December last year.

A post office spokesman said the change would save £500,000 a year and help "offset the declining letter mail income".

Parcel and priority mail deliveries will continue.

The Communication Workers Union said it was a "backward step".

The volume of letters handled by the post office has almost halved over the past decade, dropping from 30 million to 16 million annually.

The organisation made a loss for the first time in its history in 2017-2018.

A union spokesman said it was "a very sad day for a great public service on the Isle of Man".

He added: "It's a backward step that people will regret."