PARCEL deliveries in the Holme Valley have been hit by delays because of changes to delivery methods.

People in the area have complained that parcels - sent by ordinary Royal Mail delivery - have been taking several weeks to reach them.

One Meltham resident said she contacted the Holmfirth depot after waiting weeks for her parcel and was told that there was a backlog of items, some of which had been there since Mother's Day.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the delays concerned small parcels, mainly those which would not fit through letterboxes.

He said delays were due to a new system which means deliveries take place once a day instead of twice.

This system was introduced last month as part of a national initiative.

The spokesman said: "The problems our customers are having are linked to that new way of working.

"It involves radical change and it is almost inevitable that there will be teething problems.

"We are doing all we can to address these problems and we apologise for the delays. We ask for customers' patience."

However, he denied that parcels had remained at the depot since Mother's Day.

He said: "If customers say an item is delayed for weeks we would not dispute it, but once an item has got to the Holmfirth depot there is no logical explanation as to why it would take weeks."