The unofficial action by 250 staff at Old Ford End Road meant no deliveries in much of Bedford. The strike began when the Royal Mail tried to force staff to work longer in order to deal with a backlog of mail. The Woburn Estate is bracing itself to lose thousands of pounds at one of the busiest times of the year. With the foot and mouth crisis showing no sign of easing, businesses like Woburn Abbey and Woburn Safari Park will remain closed for Easter. It is not just the Abbey and the Safari Park - there are other businesses like farming, forestry and the deer of course.
Closure is very expensive.
The Bedford Tourist Board said that the Easter season would be a measure of the impact of the crisis. It's really starting to bite now. People who have booked cottages or hotels for the Easter period are starting to wonder whether the council because they won't be able to walk anywhere. Here's a close-up. Arsonists struck again in Biggleswade when they set fire to a derelict building in Shortmead Street on Tuesday.