BUSINESSES are alarmed at the prospect of further postal strikes after Saturday.

Yesterday between 500 and 600 postal workers – including mail centre staff and drivers at Derby's Midland Road depot – manned Derbyshire picket lines for the second time in a week.

The workers are striking because of Royal Mail modernisation plans they believe could lead to job losses and cuts.

And the Communication Workers' Union said there was "every prospect" that industrial action would now be stepped up.

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce said that the companies worst-hit by the strikes were in rural areas where mail was vital.

And bosses in Borrowash confirmed that further action could be damaging.

William Pooles, joint director of JWP Computer Services, in Derby Road, said his company made regular orders from e-Bay sellers who posted products via Royal Mail.

He said: "We have a backlog of computers which need parts that we are currently able to deal with but we are on the edge of it starting to affect us, with customers facing delays for work to be completed.

"We haven't received between £300 and £500 in payments because of the strikes so far.

"Again, that could get worse."

Chris Ruck, owner of sports clothes store Euro Soccer Company, in Derby Road, said any extension to the strikes could mean his business would lose money.

He said: "We send out quotes and they send cheques back to us.

"We are already having to chase customers to see if they have sent the cheques, so it's a worry that the strikes could go on.

"We are encouraging people to pay via the internet."

John Pearson, an engineer at Borrowash Diesel Services, Nottingham Road, said it was clear that Royal Mail was in trouble.

He said: "We deal a lot in diesel pump repairs and we get a lot of our parts in jiffy bags. They used to be sent via Royal Mail but it's now noticeable our suppliers are all using courier companies."

Postal workers will strike again in Derbyshire tomorrow, when workers in "rural offices" in Alfreton, Ashbourne, Heanor, Burton, Bakewell, Belper, Hatton, Ilkeston, Matlock, Ripley, Swadlincote and Castle Donington will be on the picket lines.

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU, said his organisation would be "upping the dispute".

He said: "We will not be scaling it down. There is every prospect that we will increase the action and we could be looking at longer strikes."

But Simon Walker, Derbyshire CWU secretary, said more strikes were possible but "by no means certain".

He said: "From what I've heard from headquarters, we are not far away from getting some sort of deal."