A Harpenden man says the loss of the town’s Royal Mail sorting office has caused a "degradation of services".

Andrew Bresler, of Piggottshill Lane, said he has experienced two packages go missing in the post, since the sorting office relocated to St Albans.

In a bid to make savings, Royal Mail sold the Harpenden delivery office in London Road and 52 members of staff were gradually moved over to the St Albans office in September last year.

During his seven years of living in Harpenden, Mr Bresler said he has never had any issues with lost post, but the two instances "correlates directly with the closure of the sorting office."

He said: "When me and my wife first moved to Harpenden the postal service was great.

"Our postman has been our regular postman for years and he knows us to the extent where he's worked around our general absence and he has brilliantly managed our post.

"We had lived in London previously, where we always had problems with lost items, but in Harpenden we know our postie and can always rely on him.

"Losing the sorting office has had a huge impact on Harpenden and we have seen a degradation of services."

After his two packages went missing, Mr Brasler says he immediately contacted Royal Mail.

He said: "Royal Mail advised me to contact the sender of the items.

"This is ridiculous because both missing items were unexpected. Therefore we didn’t have a clue who the senders are and what the packages were."

One of the lost packages has since been recovered in St Albans, while the other remains untraced and Mr Bresler has received £20 in compensation.

Mr Bresler said: "In the latest instance our item showed up at St Albans sorting office, which clearly highlights the closure of the sorting office is introducing points of failure.

"If we had our sorting office here, it would have never been lost in St Albans.

"When it was announced Harpenden sorting office would be closing, Royal Mail apologised and promised services would not decline.

"But that is evidently not the case and whatever is failing needs to be resolved."

Sally Hopkins from Royal Mail said Harpenden customers could collect any mail Royal Mail were holding for them from Harpenden Post Office.

She said: "The vast majority of all mail arrives safely and we are always sorry to learn of any customer who experiences problems with our service.

"We have apologised to Mr Bresler and responded to his queries. We have also reminded our staff at St Albans delivery office of the importance of the correct delivery of items to ensure all our customers in the area receive the first class service they expect and deserve from Royal Mail."