POSTAL workers delivering or collecting mail in the town centre will not be issued with parking tickets, the council has said.

The concession comes after a bitter row broke out between Royal Mail and council bosses, when it was revealed that the postal company racked up �10,000 when collecting at some boxes since April.

The mail firm wrote a letter of complaint to Loxford Ward Cllr Filly Maravala, who has been embroiled in talks with the highways department ever since.

It said it could “ill afford” the fines, which were dished out by parking wardens and CCTV operators.

The post office in Cranbrook Road, Ilford, was hardest hit, with some drivers being fined up to three times a day.

Workers said pay and display bays outside were regularly full, and at one point one was blocked for days on end with a skip, forcing drivers to pull up on double yellow lines.

The company appealed sixty-six times against the �50-a-time fines but every case was rejected.

Cllr Maravala broke the news to Royal Mail staff last week that the council had agreed it would not fine workers who were obviously collecting or delivering.

But it said staff who used the bus-only route on Clements Road as a short cut to their delivery office would continue to receive fines.

Cllr Maravala described the agreement as a “major win.”

He added: “Unfortunately I agreed with them that the road opposite the library should not be used to take a short cut, after all it would take only a minute or two maximum to go around Winston way.

“But it is a good result.”